Dawn of the Bull
by Starsa83
Summary: This Story was formed from the posts from We are a Fallout Roleplay Group, this story takes place in New Vegas, the Dam has fallen and Centurion Titus Vulcanus has taken Camp Forlorn Hope, but he has his eyes on taking New Vegas for Caesar, and gaining his favour. Written by several different Roleplayers with the We Are Legion group. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

This Story is the Amalgamation of a Role Play Thread from the We Are Legion RP group, a Forum based group that has recently moved from Facebook to a Forum Based Website. We are always looking for new RPers, so if you're interested, please come visit us at: wearelegionroleplay . spruz . com. We are not just LEgion based, we have several Faction RP threads including Open Legion, NCR, Merc, Brotherhood of Steel (To come), Khan (To Come), plus many others in the works as well as one-on-one Closed RPs between two or more characters. The fantsatic writers in this Story are active on the We Are Legion Site today, we would love to have you join us!

Characters in this story who are played by the fantastic authors in the RP group are Credited below:

Centurion Titus Vulcanus

Decanus Sejanus

Nightstalker

Recruit Lupe

'Techslave'

Ameritus

Ised Ui

Private 1st Class Aurora Cosgrove (Starsa83)

After the Legion had taken Hoover Dam, they quickly began to advance through the Mojave, rooting out any and all NCR near the river. Centurion Titus Vulcanus and his Centuria had just returned from a large skirmish into Camp Forlorn Hope. He and his surviving men marched into The Fort victorious, trailing behind them, a large group of new slaves, fresh from the NCR Barracks at Forlorn Hope. Titus marched his men into the centre of the Fort and made a large spectacle of his return. "My fellow Legionaries! Today, we take another step towards the eradication of these filthy degenerates!"

His Centuria cheered while the rest of the Legionaries already in the Fort looked on.

Titus pulled one of the slaves up next to him, the Major of the NCR Camp by the look of the emblems emblazoned across his uniform. He then looked down at the rest of the cowering NCR prisoners who were held down by Legionnaires. "You filthy profligates will learn how pathetic you really are!" Titus said calmly to the new slaves. With that, the NCR Major spat in Titus' face.

The Fort fell silent, shocked at the audacity of this prisoner.

Titus threw the Major to the ground and stomped on his chest - the sound of ribs cracking was drowned out by gasps from the slaves and the screams of Major.

"Let this be a lesson to all of you filth!" bellowed the Centurion as he took his shikebab, lit it, and slowly pressed the flaming blade against the Major's face.

His skin began to crackle and melt while his hair caught fire and his eyes boiled in their sockets, all the while Titus was laughing, getting some sick enjoyment out of this torture.

Within minutes, the Major has burned to death, and his agonizing, blood curdling screams finally stopped. The slaves were silent, and the Legionnaires were grinning.

"Take all the men to the slave pen, and tie the women up in my tent!" shouted Titus with a deviant smirk on his face. This had been a good few days: Forlorn Hope had fallen, the Legion had a new batch of slaves, and now he had some entertainment and pleasure as a reward. He sheathed his Shishkebab and walked off to his tent while his men threw the men into the pen, and dragged the women, kicking and screaming, into his large tent.

Among the crowd of Legionaries that turned out for this brazen display, which included new recruits and grizzled veterans alike, there were few who neglected to take the opportunity to jeer and call out with all manner of cruel mockery to the captured NCR troopers, especially during the major's public execution. There were a few exceptions, of course: those few recruits not yet accustomed to the Legion's ways, who had to turn away, lest they be overcome with nausea; those who preferred to stand by, nodding in approval and quietly appreciating the show. And then there was nightstalker.

Not the terror-inducing creature of nightmares found in the Mojave's dark hours, but a Legion scout, named by his former tribe after the beasts for his near-silent movement and -charming- personality. He stood in the rear of the crowd, watching silently as the major was tortured. No facial twitches or body language betrayed his emotions as he looked on. In fact, were one to describe his expression to the best of one's ability, they might say that he looked... bored. Or even mildly annoyed. The truth would be close.

He'd been a scout in service to the Legion for many years, and had seen more than his fair share of executions. Such things were commonplace: making an example of your enemy, taking spoils for one's self. But to his knowledge, nobody had ever done such a thing without first seeking Caesar's permission. The same applied to taking slaves for one's self. Certainly, such things had happened before; it would be foolish to think otherwise. But never in such a public spectacle. This Centurion was brash. Perhaps foolhardy. Either way, he would have to be watched closely in the future. Without a word, the scout backed away from the crowd, face impassive, movements fluid and practiced. This sort of thing was amusing at times, but at the moment it was merely an unnecessary distraction. He had news to bring to Caesar. News that would not wait.

Sejanus smirked as she removed her plumed Decanus helm, handing it to one of her contubernium with a curt order to take it and her gear to their tent and have her axe sharpened and brought back quickly. Her spirits had markedly improved since the taking of the dam, and the day's victory though easy was still sweet. She nodded to her fellow Decanus as she went to assist with the girls, taking a length of rope and her knife for any foolish enough to resist, though she doubted any would after Titus's display. Though rather exuberant and sloppy for her taste, she couldn't deny the effectiveness of such a show. Sure enough there was little struggle among the women.

Her disgust with these creatures was only heightened by their cowardice, their weak complacency. She felt a grim pleasure at the almost ironic situation she found herself in as she herded several bound girls into the Centurion's tent. If she were ever found out, if by some circumstance someone discovered what she was, would she share their fate? No... no she knew she wouldn't. They were weak - they chose this over death in battle, the harlots. They chose this; they -wanted- this. She was better than that, despite being...what she was. She would have chosen death.

Though glad to see them rewarded for their craven ways, the fate of those dissolute still had her frowning by the time she left the tent. The mere thought of being discovered had sent a small knot of dread chewing at her gut. Her brow furrowed further at the sight of Night Stalker trudging his way off from the group. She hurried to meet her old comrade, handing off the rest of her rope to a young legionary as she passed, but by the time she looked back he had already vanished from sight though.

"Dammit Arenam," she muttered to herself, calling him by her nickname for him - a fitting name, she thought, for one as hard to catch as sand. "Where did you go..?"

She turned back to camp scowling, the worried feeling in her stomach growing worse.


	2. Chapter 2

Posts from the RP site: .com All welcome come and join the fun!

Her parents, friends and family had warned her not to join up. In hindsight, they were right.  
Just days before she had been joking with the rest of the troopers, her friends, comrades-in-arms about the Legion soldiers, and how they were going to kick Caesar's arse all the way back to the hell he was birthed from.  
It wasn't so funny now.

Private Aurora Cosgrove hadn't watched as the men of the Legion had swarmed over their defences; she had been taking inventory in the supplies shack when soldiers clad in their crimsons sportswear armour had burst through the door. She had been alone, and away in her own little world, tallying, calculating orders and preparing the paperwork on her clipboard to send to the supplies corps, she walls of the shack muffling out what she had assumed to be practice fire.

Now, she was held roughly by Legionaries, disarmed, a prisoner… no worse, a Slave of the Legion, and about to witness the atrocities that they were infamous for.

The men that held her gripped her arms so hard that her fingers were going numb and purple marks were starting to appear where they had dug their fingers in to her flesh; she looked around for friends, and only saw Elliott, another woman who had transferred to Camp Forlorn Hope. Ellie was pale and drawn, a fresh bruise already showing on her pretty face.  
Ellie and Aurora were both in the Supplies Corps, though Ellie usually worked in the Mess Hall. Aurora and Ellie had a bit of a competition going, they were often propositioned by the men in the camp, though neither considered themselves to be pretty, they had a bet going that by the end of their tour the woman who had the most propositions from the men, and hadn't accepted them, would win a bottle of pre-war wine.  
It wasn't that they weren't interested in the guys, some of them were real spunks, but Aurora had no intention of forming a romantic attachment, why set yourself up for heartbreak if the next day you were going to read the MIA and KIA lists and find your lover has been added?  
Her reverie was broken by the approach of a Legion Officer.

Aurora watched as the Major spat in the Legion officer's face.

"Oh, shit." She thought to herself, knowing that the repercussions for such an insult were going to be met a hundredfold with pain and agony for the Major. But what was to come would burn itself into her memory for the rest of her life, and the image would be forever emblazoned into her eyelids, for months afterwards, she would see the remains of the Major every time she closed her eyes.  
The Centurion took a sword and lit it on fire; she noticed that there was an old pre-war motorcycle fuel tank strapped to his back. She watched as the Legion officer placed the burning sword against the Major's face.

The stench of burning flesh and hair overpowered all other olfactory intrusions.

Elliott gagged beside her, Aurora's shocked mind was telling her that this wasn't happening, it tried to block it out, but everything else told her it was, her stomach roiled and she swallowed at the bitter saliva which usually accompanied a bout of vomiting until her mouth was dry.  
Her heart beat thundered through her ears, hammering away and blocking the sound of the Major's dying screams. Tears threatened at the corners of her eyes, she took deep shuddering breaths and her body shook with the shock of the vista before her.  
"Holy fuck!" one of the men whispered under his breath.

Aurora's mind shut down for a moment, she had to reset, maybe this was just a bad dream, yeah, that was it, she'd wake up at home to her mother's Brahmin stew on the stove, that was always a comfort, her nieces and nephews would be out playing in the yard while her brother and father would be bringing in the Brahmin for milking, and she'd have to get up and help with the milking, and calving season wouldn't be too far off for some of the herd.

Screams brought her back to reality, Ellie and another woman were being dragged away to the tents, they screamed and kicked, trying to stop the inevitable. One guilty though intruded into her mind,

"Thank god it's not Me that he chose." She hated herself for that thought. She lowered her head, and a lock of her long, dark brown hair that had come out from her neatly tied bun fell across her face.

She felt her hands being tied behind her back, her hands and fingers burned with the return of blood flow. She was hauled to her feet, her mind blind to where they were taking her, but eyes seeing her place one foot in front of the other.  
She was no longer free, and her heart wept for the loss.

As the last of the women were dragged into the threshold of his tent by the recruits, Titus grabbed the closest one, Aurora, and threw her onto his bed, pushing her face into the bedding and pulling her toward him. She wouldn't look upon him during the act until he was finished with her - a degenerate like her deserved to be taken the way the Legion mongrel bitches are taken by the mutts.

As he spread her bruised, sore legs, a Decanus rushed into his tent. "Ave!" He said curtly, aware that interrupting a Centurion without good reason would lead to similar treatment as the NCR Major.

As the Decanus' voice cut across the whimpering of the girl on his bed, Titus turned to the man, deliberately standing at his full height and scowled. The Decanus stuttered as Titus approached him - Titus' name seemed fitting given that he looked second in stature only to Lanius himself. "L-Lucius, he w-"

"Spit it out!" Snapped Titus as his hand wandered down the hilt of his shishkebab. "Or maybe I should remove your tongue and put an end to your whimpering?!"

"He wish-"

"Or take your hands and put an end to your soldiering?!"

"Sir, Lu-"

"In fact, I'll take your cock and put an end to your fucking about?!" Titus roared.

"Lucius wishes to speak with you sir!" whimpered the Decanus as quickly as he could, before backing out of the tent and rushing to find other business to attend to far away from the Centurion.

Titus exited the tent and called over the three closest legionaries. "If any of those whores in there move, you take their legs." With that, he walked up to his leader's tent, instantly a lot calmer and more wary of his wellbeing. Showing his anger in front of Caesar would most certainly be very dangerous.

Titus entered the tent, approached his master and gave a swift bow of the head. "Caesar." but Caesar was not in the tent - little did Titus know that his glorious leader was in bed in the rear of the campaign tent.

"Your debauchery will have to be postponed, Titus. You have yet to give me your account of the skirmish and explain to me why you think it is acceptable to take the women for yourself..." scorned Lucius, appearing from behind the curtain to Caesar's quarters.

Titus knew if he said the wrong thing, he'd have praetorians on him in seconds. "Forlorn Hope is ours. Half my centuria is occupying it now. The cowards surrendered." Titus looked away, "and I had no intention of disrespecting Cae-"

"Put them with the other slaves... Keep ONE for yourself."

"But-"

"Don't expect to have a reward like that when you defy the will of Caesar on your return!"

Titus' shouldered slumped as he nodded. He had gotten off lightly perhaps only due to his victory today. Had he been less successful, he may not have been alive right now. Who knew?

Titus and Lucius had used to be close friends during their time as Legionaries. They had fought in the same unit, under the same Centurion, but when the time came, they parted ways. Lucius left to join the Praetorian, but when Titus was offered a place among Caesar's personal guard, he turned it down, in favour of becoming a Centurion on the front lines, rather than a coward hiding in the safety of the Fort.

Titus left Caesar's tent to find legionaries already taking all but one of his women down to the slave pen, harassing them as they went. When he entered his tent, he threw his helmet to the ground and sighed. His victory was now somewhat marred by this. What would the rest of the Fort think about him?

The cowering wench before him was the same girl he was about to take beforehand. He was no longer in that mood - his triumph cut short, so she had escaped that brutality for now. "Fetch me a drink," he said softly as he threw her from his bed and onto the floor. He laid down in the centre of the bed.  
"Now!"


	3. Chapter 3

When ordered by Titus into the tent, Sejanus complied quickly, hurrying in with the two other legionaries who been barked at. She'd seen the livid look drawn across his face , and the pale terror of the young Decanus who'd come practically running from the tent just moments before. He wore his fear too openly, having not yet learned the stoic mask of calm worn by the veterans that made up her contubernium.

When you lived in constant fear, you learned to hide it well. A small part of her envied that young man, the life he must have lived to still be that naive and openly afraid... She shook her head, entering the cool tent.

Her orders were simple enough, guard the girls, make sure no one tried anything stupid like prisoners were wont to do. It wasn't like she had a contubernium to attend to or command or anything, not like this was a job for the lowest recruits. She sighed at being in the wrong place at the wrong time yet again, and wished she'd held onto her helmet. Without it she was often mistaken for a younger legionary thanks to her face.

The slightest frown curled her lips; had her old Centurion Agrippa been around today instead of this hot-blooded Titus... well, she couldn't blame him for not knowing. She'd been running into a lot more centuriae since the battle of the Dam and the ensuing push of NCR from their newly conquered territory. Still it irked her slightly to be mistaken for a recruit - she'd earned her rank with many deaths, including a few close calls on her part.

She looked around, coming face to face once more with those loathsome cowards. The women were mostly cowering together, some weeping, sobbing; others already looked hollow in dead inside. She sneered at how easily broken they were. This, -this- is what separated her from them. She noticed one of the other men grabbing at one of the girls, her begging chokes and sobs doing nothing to dissuade his fun.

"I wouldn't do that," Sejanus warned him dryly.

He looked up scowling, demanding, "And why not? They're ours to play with, no? Or do you prefer the boys?" he grinned.

"I prefer not having to answer for your idiocy. If Centurion Titus returns to see you playing with his things it'll be ALL our hides."

Before he could respond the tent opened once more and a pale weasel of a man man walked in. She recognized him right away as one of Crassus' men in charge of slave affairs and division. This couldn't be good.

"By order of Licinius Crassus, the Consul Officiorum ab Famulatus, you are to escort these captures for division and -"

"Just tell us where to herd them," she snapped, interrupting the whining drawl of the slaver. "I don't need to hear all this that and the other about the fucking Consul's titles. I swear he adds one on every time I turn around.."

The little man puffed indignantly but saw the look in her eye and decided against protest. "You are to escort them to the quarters by the bank for shipping back home. Centurion Titus Vulcanus has been permitted to keep one as his own, though." With that he stormed out.

Sejanus looked over the haul, ordering the two legionaries to get them moving.

"Which should we leave for the Centurion, sir?" asked one, a shocked look at how she'd spoken to the Consul's man still in his eye.

She frowned gazing about. Most of the girls were rather plain, hardly a prize worthy of a Centurion's victory. "Her," she said, deciding on the girl on the bed. She had seen the girl squirming at the execution, nearly retching at one point. Sejanus smiled, what better fate for that kind of weakness? Titus would be just the reward such a creature deserved.

"He already seems to have taken a liking to her, and she's pretty enough. I'm sure he won't complain at such a prize. Now come on, get moving. We don't want the precious Consul to actually lift a finger or anything. Let's go," and with that they left, escorting the pathetic lot towards the bank.

Aurora was the last of the women dragged in and the first he grabbed. Her guilty thought came back to bite her as he threw her unceremoniously to the bed.

Her face pressed against the rough fabric of his bedding, it stank of male sweat. Her nose crunched slightly, as he pushed her down, the cartilage protesting the treatment but not snapping.

She was in the worst possible position, instead of being one of his later victims, she was his first. The other women would be able to prepare for their ordeals. But not Aurora.

She sobbed at the pain in her nose, and a startled sob escaped her lips add he roughly pulled her back to a position that he favoured. Her heart beat out a tattoo of fear.

Her panic sicken mind sought solace in memories that were far more pleasant, but the situation was far too stressful and all she could do was breathe great sobbing breaths as he prepared to take her.

She was granted a last minute reprieve when the Decanus arrived and stammered his orders to the Centurion. He was obviously not happy to have his 'toy' denied him so suddenly, but she was thankful for small mercies.

She sobbed quietly among the rumpled bed clothes and oulled her slave dress over her knees in an attempt at modesty while the other guards came to watch over them.

The other girls watched their guards with wide eyes, Elliott tried to catch her eye, perhaps they could escape, but Aurora knew better.

Where would they go? They wouldn't get five steps before they would be caught and adorning a cross. Aurora shook her head slightly discouraging Ellie.

The flap to the centurions tent opened and a pompous looking man arrived and ordered the women to be taken to be moved. Ellie looked to her friend, fear playing across her features.

The soldiers escorted the women, the one who seemed in charge pointed at her.  
It seemed that Aurora would be staying.

"Fuck" she thought.

The centurion returned to his tent and threw his helmet to the ground in frustration. An act better suited to her five year old nephew, but wisely she kept her opinion to herself.

He threw her from his bed to the ground where she rolled to her knees.

"Fetch me a drink." He had ordered her. "Now"

Aurora scrambled to her feet and went to a table where a pitcher of water was standing with a set of glasses. She picked the cleanest one and with shaking hands poured the Centurion a glass of water. She gently replaced the pitcher, trying not to clunk the glassware on the table.

She took a steadying breath and picked up the glass.

Her hands trembled lightly as she turned to him and moved forward.

She went to her knees before him and lowered her head, as she offered the glass of water to her captor in upraised and still trembling hands.  
"Y-your drink, s-ir." She stammered nervously.

Titus gulped down the water and sighed. He hadn't realised how parched or exhausted he was. The battle, the stained homecoming - and tomorrow morning, he and the men he brought home would have to return to Forlorn Hope to make it a fully fledged Legion Encampment.

Titus was not looking forward to the long march back west, or having his belongings moved down into the filthy installation the NCR used to call a camp. He had his eye on Camp Golf: the home of the NCR Rangers in the Mojave, and a large portion of the NCRs ground forces. Taking that objective would put him in good stead to succeed Lanius should the legate ever fall in battle. Unlikely.


	4. Chapter 4

Taken from Posts from .com Come and join the fun!

The Centurion placed his Shishkebab in a wooden cabinet, beside his Thermic Lance and then stripped out of his armor, dropping the suit onto the ground, until he was left naked. The scars carved into his body were signs he seemed to wear proudly, as a sign of his experience and ferocity. He climbed slowly into a crude bathtub at the rear of his tent, filled with tepid water.

"Girl, take my armor to the blacksmith and tell him to add the Veteran Ranger armor onto it. Then return here..."

He nodded to the blood stained suit of red cloth laden with scraps of power armor and sheet steel. It was exceedingly heavy to one without the strict physical conditioning the Legion drilled into their recruits, so the light kevlar of riot armour would be a welcome addition.

Aurora moved to pick up the Armour; it was very heavy, though no heavier than a three month old Brahmin calf that simply didn't want to budge, but still somewhat awkward. It had been three years since she had left home.

From behind the hair that had fallen across her face she snuck a peek at the man who was now her 'master'. She hated that word, but from what she could see of the man, he was well muscled, and battle scarred, if he was not her enemy, she would have found him attractive, and probably worthy of a bending of the rules in her and Ellie's 'competition' though neither girl would get that bottle of Pre-war Wine now.

"Yes, sir." She said softly as she hefted the awkward and bloodied armour and left Titus to his bath.

She moved on unsteady feet with the load to the blacksmiths' tent.

The Legionary Blacksmith looked at her with naked hatred as he menacingly tested the machete he had just sharpened on a thick piece of Brahmin leather, while another Legionary carried a Fire Axe away from the grindstone.

"What do you want, Slave?" he growled at her. She lowered her head and took a deep breath, knowing that wrong or disrespectful words would ensure she would be the next thing he tested the machete upon.

"Forgive me, sir, but Centurion Titus requests that his armour be improved with the addition of Ranger Armour." She said softly.  
The Blacksmith nodded his head in the direction of an empty table, where she placed the heavy armour.

"Tell him it will take at least a day." He said gruffly, annoyed at how much work he already had, which would have to be pushed back for the Centurion.  
She turned and nodded her thanks to the Blacksmith who ignored her. She moved back along the paths towards her master's tent.

"Well if it isn't my favourite Roman Goddess of the Dawn, Aurora." A voice drifted weakly from a row of crosses. Aurora looked up into the now ear-less features of Private James Sexton, looked up and stopped in her tracks.

"Oh god, James!" she breathed in horror. Sexton was strapped to the cross, and blood from where they had cut his ears had coloured his body crimson, she knew he would not survive long with the amount of blood loss.

"Shh, don't worry about me." He smiled weakly, he knew he had not long for the world either.

"It's not so bad, I've got the memory of that great number you and the girls did for the Talent show. You were so sexy and what a voice!" even in the face of Death, Sexton was cheery.

Aurora's memory of the events returned

Private Sexton had sat down with Aurora, Victoria and Diana in the mess hall. He merrily interrupted their conversation as they waited for Ellie to finish her shift. He had a devious look in his eyes.

"Ahh my three favourite Roman Goddesses!" he beamed.

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Victoria, confused, Diana scowled her confusion.

"Ah, I think I know what you're on about." Aurora said, putting her hand up.  
"Victoria, your name is derived from the Mythical Roman Goddess of Victory, Diana, your name is derived from the Goddess of the Hunt, Moon, virginity," Victoria snorted in laughter for it was known that Diana was a bit of a playgirl amongst her fellow troopers. "And childbirth." Aurora said, trying not to join Victoria in laughter.

"And you?" Diana asked of Aurora.

"I'm the Goddess of Dawn, or so my dad told me when I asked him what my name meant. Mum picked it out, she's got a thing for ancient world mythology, back when she was with the Followers of the Apocalypse she was obsessed, well before my time." Aurora took a sip of the Nuka Cola before her and placed the half empty bottle back on the table,

"Anyways, she taught me a lot of crap about this God, and that Goddess, Egyptology, old world ancient history, Astrology, and so forth, I can tell you where Venus is, where Mars is, Jupiter, constellations, all that crap." She looked around the room as Ellie came over and pulled up a chair.

"So, Private Sexton, what do we owe the pleasure?" she smiled, she had a soft spot for Sexton, and he was often trying to get her to have dinner and 'dessert' with him afterwards.

"Well, I've got an idea to improve morale around here." He smiled.

"What, other than that gruesome ear tally over there?" Diana said, indicating the Bull and tally marks carved into the wall.

"Yeah, but this one, you get three days leave to go to Vegas." He grinned, he had their attention.

"Ok, I'm game." Aurora said, "What's the great idea?"

"Talent show!" he smiled.

Instantly Elliott bugged out.

"No way, I ain't got no talent." She said, raising her hands in mock defeat. Sexton pouted, and then looked to the other three.

"Well, Goddesses?" Diana, Victoria and Aurora smiled at each other,

"You had us at Vegas!" Victoria grinned.

The girls stood upon a makeshift stage in the mess hall dressed in the dark grey suits of pre-war business wear that they had managed to acquire. They wore High heels and had scarves tied around their necks, it was packed with the boys and girls of Forlorn hope.

The music started and the girls began to wriggle their hips in time to the beat. They turned and stepped to the beat towards the Mic.

"You had plenty money 1922…"  
Aurora began to the cheers of the boys. She danced with the girls, carefully choreographed moves while some of the men took pictures.

The girls had three chairs set up and each one moved into the crowd during the musical interlude, each picking a soldier and escorting him to the stage.

One of the Troopers had a HoloCam and was taking a Holovid of their performance, it would be played several times over the next few days much to the girl's embarrassment and left in the Mess hall with the other pictures that were being taken of them during their performance.

Aurora had Sexton following her like a puppy with a silly grin on his face. She sat him on the chair and continued the next verse

"You're sitting down wondering what it's all about…" the girls stepped around each of the troopers slowly tracing a single finger across their shoulders. Each man had a grin on their face as wide as the Grand Canyon.

"Get out of here, get me some money too!" Aurora sang as she and the girls pushed the men off the chairs to the uproarious laughter of the troops.

Diana and Victoria moved two of the chairs off the stage and continued to dance while Aurora moved back to the crowd and took Major Polatli's hand and brought him to the stage. His arrival was greeted with cheers and wolf whistles for the girls

"I fell for your jivin' and I took you in…" Aurora sang to the Major who grinned just like the boys had, enjoying the attention, he shook his head and smiled from beneath his moustache, Victoria danced to his left, Diane to his right and Aurora swung her hips behind him.

She leaned over his right shoulder

"Why don't you do right…"

She moved to the left shoulder.

"Like some other men do…"

She moved above his head and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Get outta here, and get me some money too!" she sang, giving him a gentle shove. The Major got the idea and left the stage to the cheers of the men.

The three girls stepped forward to the microphone and sang together, their heads next to each other.

"Why don't you do right, Like some other men do… Like some other men dooooo…." The girls held the pose, their faces together, Aurora in the middle, holding the back of the Microphone with a played hand, sultry looks in each of their eyes, cameras flashed as they finished their song, the men and women cheered, the feeling within the Mess hall was exuberant, Sexton cheered loudest, the morale in the place had been boosted by the three women and their sexy dance.  
Pictures of their performance would be tacked up next to the Legion Ear Tally on the Mess hall wall, which would become known as the 'morale booster wall.'

As they left the stage, Victoria was heard to comment "If I had to pick a torture method, I'd use high heels, these things are worse than crucifixion!" Aurora laughed in agreement. The girls had won their three day pass, but it would be the next week that Victoria would be dead, and Diana would be in the slave pen with the other women.

And Aurora would be saying her last goodbye to James Sexton.

"I just wish he had gone on that date, but that's ok, I have a good memory to keep me happy until the end."

A legionary came up and shoved her.

"Move on, or you'll end up next to him woman." He snarled.

"Yes, sir, I'm sorry sir." She said, quickly moving away back in the direction of Titus' tent. she chanced a glace back at the line of crosses as she moved, Sexton was looking up into the sky, waiting for death. She mourned him, a good friend, and perhaps, if fates were kinder, something more.

She ducked through the door of the tent and approached her master, she was still shaken from seeing James, but she tried to hide it.

"Sir, the Blacksmith has your armour and said it will take at least a day." She said, going to her knees before Titus as he bathed.  
She felt hunger gnawing at her and thirst was begging to dry her throat, she was tired and stressed, but she knew he was not finished with her yet.

She had a feeling that life now would be just like in her basic training, you would eat when they told you to, sleep when they told you to, and shit when they told you to and be thankful that they let you do it at all.

She decided to make the best of a bad situation. She had done stewardship before, one Officer was the same as the next, no matter what army they served, or at least she hoped was the case with the man in the tub.

"Is there something else I may do for you, sir?" she asked, dreading his response.

Titus was a little impressed by the strength of the NCR milk drinker. Though he'd keep it to himself, he had expected a woman of her stature to struggle more with the weight of his gear. She didn't drop it or drag it, but she carried it quickly - she made haste, but didn't rush. She would make a good slave and because of that, he would have to make the best of her while she was here.

While she was delivering his armor, Titus took the opportunity to relax and indulge himself by imagining himself taking up the mantle of the legate. Lanius was the terror of the east, and Titus would be his successor who set the Mojave ablaze.

His wishful thinking was cut short by the entrance of the girl. He nodded as she reported back to him the work of the blacksmith. If he knew what was good for him, the smith would have his armor finished and cleaned before Titus had to leave.

"Yes." He replied to her, shortly. "There is."

He took a bottle of healing powder from the table beside the tub and handed it to her. "You may cleanse my wounds, then dress me... Then you will tell me everything you know about Camp Golf."


	5. Chapter 5

Taken from posts from: .com Come and join the Fun!

Aurora took the bottle of healing powder and a cloth; she dampened the cloth and applied a sprinkling of the powder to it.

Titus had several wounds that would need tending to. The worst was a large open laceration on his back.

She gently applied the healing powder over his main cuts and abrasions, gently wiping at the marks on his shoulders and feeling the knots and tension of his muscles beneath her hands.

She gently applied pressure to the knotted muscles in his shoulders while she dabbed at the wounds, she felt the tension release as Titus' muscles relaxed.

"If you would please lean forward sir, so that I may attend to the gash on your back." He leaned forward for her to attend the wound and she gently dabbed at the blood that had scabbed around the edges. "I think this may need a few stitches, sir." She spoke softly.

As she left the tent, Sejanus ordered over several recruits, relegating to them the job of seeing the slaves to their pens. She had better things to do. She stormed off towards her contubernium's tent, intending to grab her helm lest anyone else mistake her for a recruit.

She was in no mood for fools, especially after dealing with one of Crassus's lackeys. Her last assignment from the Consul had been less than pleasant, seeing her spend several months acting as Legion escort and liaison to the slaver Dead-Eye Rogers. She hated that man... she had a long history with him, longer than her stay with the Legion. Worse still, he knew who... -what- she was.

Leverage like that saw him basically owning Sejanus, blackmailing her for better prices and standing with the Legion till he practically held a monopoly on incoming captures outside the Legion's own conquests. She still shuddered at the thought of dealing with slime like that.

Shaking the memories from her head, she stopped to check on her recruits. Cruel as she could be, she did feel a perverse care for her contubernium. They were like family to her, and she went out of her way to ensure their lives were never needlessly risked.

While most of the Legion saw recruits as tools to be tossed aside, she thought the best tools were those you honed, cared for, and kept working. Satisfied that no one was badly injured in the battle - not much of a surprise given the pathetic resistance put up by the outpost - she collected her helm and left to see what was taking so long with her axe.

As she passed by the male captures, she noticed a bit of a ruckus. Two recruits stood over one of the men, his bloodied form shaking at their feet. With a swift move she swung herself over to the fence and was by there sides before they could salute.

"Ave, sir!" managed the elder of the two. From the look of them, she doubted they were a day out of training. They exchanged a nervous glance as she looked at the man at there feet. "I - we know we're not to kill them without charge, but this one refused to cooperate."

"He insulted Caesar, and Centurion Titus!" piped up the younger as the other nodded.

Sejanus sighed. Motioning them to stand aside, she bent down for a better look at the prisoner. His tattered uniform read Sexton. Before she could get a word in, he was grinning up at her through several missing teeth.

"Hello handsome. Come to rescue me and whisk me away?" He managed to choke out.

Wonderful, a joker. She just -loved- dealing with this type. Well if they hadn't managed to beat that smile out of him yet, she was more than happy to oblige.

"Sexton is it?" she asked, ignoring his brash jest and dragging him up on his knees by his mop of brown hair. "You were the one who had a bounty out for our ears, weren't you? Yes, we've heard about you." She looked at the young recruits standing nervously behind her. "Boys, it looks like you're going to get to have a little fun after all. Ever crucified someone? No?" She grinned as they shook their heads. "Well that's about to change. Help me get him through the gate."

They hurried to comply, one of them stumbling to the gate, the other helping her lift the ill-fated private to his feet. The walls of the camp were already lined with crosses, hungrily waiting for their next tenant. She headed towards the nearest one, the busy thronging crowd making way for the group, knowing what was to come. Jeers and calls rang out from all sides, yelling for pain, for the slow death of this dissolute.

Crucifixion was always such a crowd-pleaser. Nails and rope waited at the foot of the cross, and a ladder made its way over through the crowd shortly. She ordered the other young recruit to take her place, holding Sexton in place as she stood up on the base of the cross, facing the gathered crowd. She hid her growing smile as best she could, trying not to let her pride at being the one to find this scum show as she addressed the throng.

"Men, Legion, this man - this lowly -creature-," she spat, raising the man's head by a handful of hair; every word dripped with the perfect amount of vehemence, rang with practiced weight and staidness, "-this- is the one who started the tally of ears. This is the one responsible for the desecration of our brothers, for the disrespect afforded to them like animals. I ask you men, does such a worm deserve a quick death?"

The crowd roared in outrage as she raised her knife to his throat.

"Does such a degraded beast deserve an end to his suffering?"

Again an uproar as she lightly traced his throat, letting a trickle of red run down.

"He rewarded his fellow dissolute for hunting us like animals, like poachers after a prize. Well I demand retaliation."

The crowd erupted in cheers, drowning out the private's scream as she grabbed one ear, sawing at the cartilage quickly and ferociously. She held up the severed part to even louder laudation, feeling the warm 'plip plip' of blood on her face as it dripped from her raised hand.

The cheering hadn't died before she continued, "I for one demand retributions!" and sawed and pulled off his other, ripping it from his head this time before the blade had finished its job.

Gouts of crimson soaked both sides of his sorry face, staining too his uniform. Sejanus motioned quietly for the two youths to begin raising him to the cross, nodding to one of her contubernium to help them with the crucifixion. Sexton's screams and the crowd were deafening, intoxicating. A hungry grin broke across her lips as she went on, raising one hand for quiet.

"I for one demand satisfaction. I demand he suffers as our brothers suffered, as our fallen suffered and then some! Let him hang here to see what becomes of his fellows, so he can have a slow death. Let him learn that cruelty begets cruelty, one last lesson." With that she turned, stepping down from the cross as the others finished securing him.

The crowd continued its clamour as she slipped through their ranks, smiling and nodding at her fellows as they saluted her. She was no stranger to working the men into a frenzy - her pre-battle rallying had helped with morale in several dire straits before. Her growing influence among Agrippa's centuria and her impeccable record were widely noted, and the whispers of her someday making Centurion weren't all too quiet. As things slowly went back to business and the mob dispersed, returning to their various tasks, she headed back towards the smith. She grabbed a rag from a passing slave, idly wiping the blood from her face before tossing it to the ground. As she passed her tent her man Horatius grinned at her, waving.

"You can never resist showing off can you?" he chuckled in his growl of a voice.

"Keep it up and you'll be the butt of my next show." she smiled, not stopping to talk. Horatius had always been her favorite - smarter than he looked and quick to follow her lead, he was invaluable. Even his quips tended to keep her honest, loathe as she was to admit him, lest she encourage him.

By the time she had reached the blacksmith, she found he'd already sent her axe with one of her men. Swearing she turned, tramping back the way she came. Her good mood wore off further as she passed the now crucified Sexton only to see him weakly joking with some slave-girl. As she approached she was angry to see it was none other than the girl she'd left Titus. Here she was again, cheering up the scum.

Sejanus snarled, shoving the girl aside. "Move on, or you'll end up next to him, woman." She barked, glaring at her. Mentally she dared her to protest, willed her to give some reason to be punished.

Instead she scampered away, stammering out a feeble "Yes, sir, I'm sorry sir." before heading back to the Centurion's tent. She chanced a glance back at the half-corpse on the cross as she went, soured Sejanus' mood further.

She hoped Titus broke the girl soon, and hoped to be rid of that stubborn smiling degenerate Sexton. All of this and she still hadn't managed to get ahold of Night Stalker or her axe.


	6. Chapter 6

Taken from posts from .com Come and join the fun!

She must have served someone like this before he thought. She shows respect without being too meek. If only she weren't a women, she would make an excellent legionary. What a shame.

Titus leaned forward, giving her access to his back. He winced as her cloth made contact with, but made sure not to show her he felt any pain. He had an image to maintain, but he doubted any of the other Centurions could have held a straight face if they had a slave scouring a wound from a ranger's knife.

"Nonsense. Recruits get worse than this." he waved her comment away, standing from the water and pulled on a thin, faded red gown.

He steered her into a seat by a desk and sat on the other side of it. Childish anticipation showed all over his face.

"How would you like to get back into your old uniform?" He asked with a sly smile.

Aurora felt chilled by his touch as he guided her to the chair.  
she was somewhat confused by his question, but the look on his face made it painfully clear that he had something planned for her, and she didn't like the thought one bit.

She thought for a few moments before she answered him.

"With respect, sir. Either you have a 'thing' for a woman in Uniform, or you are asking me to betray my people." she took a deep breath, preparing herself for any repercussions from what she was to say next.

"And if the latter is the case, you can go get fucked with a rusty razor blade, I will not betray my oath to the New California Republic." she said, defiantly.

She had volunteered, she hadn't been conscripted into the NCR like some of the boys and girls in the Army. Her home and her family stood to be changed forever if the Legion took the NCR in its entirety and she had wanted to do her part to protect them.

A patriotic duty, she had called it, though she knew that within a week, her mother would be crumpled at the door in grief with the note from the Personnel division of the NCR Army with a MIA - Presumed Captured notice for her daughter in hand, Aurora's pregnant sister-in-law would be on the floor with her, holding her distraught mother-in-law while her nieces and nephews watched from the front yard.

She stared coolly at him, arms crossed over her chest in a defiant pose.

As soon as what passed for 'silence' fell about The Fort, a tent near the Weather Station opened its flaps. Unlike most of the red triangular tents about the area, this one had a full covering. Canvas supported by steel rods made up the frame work for such a construct, and revealed a face that had been silent up until this point.

The face was that of a man whose skin tone was a shade or two lighter than what one might expect of a wastelander, eyes of a radioactive green stared blankly behind locks of brown hair which fell beyond the man's shoulders. His facial hair, while almost completely covering his chin and the skin between his lips and nose, wasn't nearly as 'perfect' as his coloration. Rather, it looked as though his appearance was altered with the tip of a spear, and the marks on his neck indicated that he wasn't all that good at it.

The man's hands clapped slowly and purposefully, moving at an unknown rhythm that his feet matched. A robe of red fell from his collar to his ankles, arranged as an ancient Roman Senator would. The robe's appearance from the right shoulder, across the chest, and down just past his waist line appeared to be one cloth reminiscent of the Brotherhood of Steel scribe robe. The left shoulder was a metal pauldron attached to a leather stitching bearing the Legion's trademark 'X' over the center, while the lower half of the robe were simply patched together.

The clapping soon ended with the march as an equally even tone followed the silence. "Sejanus, I've not heard words as these from you since the wardrum was fixed." A smirk creeped over the left side of his face as his eyebrows altered into amusement at the memory. "You bring us a good brand, Decanus. I would almost find alongside you - if only I could - to hear that again." The smile faded as he resumed his usual demeanor, "But as it stands, these things must be done few and far between, lest its meaning fall short." He moved forth to follow the Decanus, "...and about your axe, it seems your messenger might have injured the blacksmith working on your axe during delivery. I replaced it with a new head while I sharpen the old one." He stopped just before reaching her tent, "Ave."

His eyes looked to the crucified NCR, giving note to the lack of his ears before moving back towards his tent. Prior to reaching it, his pace slowed to examine the wardrum he mentioned before. Wood, metal, and brahmin-skin made up the 8' monstrosity, surrounded by much smaller versions of the same design.

Upon his arrival to the Legion, one of Techslave's first accomplishments was the creation and maintenance of these drums, modeled after the percussion that he knew so well. Deciding not to enter the tent at all, he passed the large drum to investigate the Howitzer gun, which had been largely his responsibility for sizing up for any coming defense.

The childish glee smeared across Titus' face was instantly washed off by her defiance. This woman had bigger balls than most recruits. But there was a reason his own men lacked this immense testicular fortitude: they knew what was good for them.

Titus' hand shot forward and he grabbed her hair. He'd see how much her oath was worth to her. The Centurion slammed her head into the desk and stood behind her, speaking to her over her shoulder. "Is your oath worth that much to you?" he sneered.

He threw her to the ground and walked to a cabinet a few feet away. "I would have nailed you to a fucking cross had you not given me a different idea." With that he drew a rusty, old machete and walked over to her again.

"It's not quite a razor blade, but it'll have to do." he said calmly as he grabbed her again and forced her onto the table. "Should you change your mind..."

Her head slammed into the table, stars sparkled before her eyes and before she regained her senses she was upon the floor. She heard him speaking…

"… Had you not given me a different idea." And her fear redoubled with the realisation of what he was planning, she had been a fool, and she had seen the man's penchant for violence, what did she have to gain other than pain and personal debilitating injury perhaps agonising death.

She struggled against him as he roughly grabbed her and pushed her onto the table. She watched as he approached her, one heavy hand keeping her struggling form pressed against the table, he played the rusty blade against the side of her face and down her neck.

Soft sobs accompanied her erratic, fear-filled breathing as the blade moved down her sides, curving with the roundness of her right breast, down the side of her stomach and following her hips and upper thighs.

She cried as she felt the roughness of the rust and coolness of the patches of metal that were unblemished. Her resolve wavered and vanished, self-preservation kicked into the 'fight or flight' response of her adrenaline pumped body

"Please, no, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she begged, hoping he would stop before he decided to cut her

"I'll do as you ask, sir, please!" she hated herself; it hadn't taken the Centurion much to bring her to betray her own.

Words spilled from her mouth, information on Camp Golf, the supplies they would receive, support crews, entry points, the areas where supplies were delivered, her role in collating requests for new recruits and supplies for Camp Forlorn hope and also for Camp Golf's Trooper divisions.

She wept openly, paralysed with fear, fear of him continuing with his 'plan' for her involving the machete, fear for her family, fear for herself and for her comrades still out there fighting, she had betrayed them by giving information to their enemy.

'Traitor.' A dark though intruded into her mind.


	7. Chapter 7

Taken from the RP posts from: .com Come join the fun!

Sejanus paused her stomping, hearing a slow clap coming from behind. She turned to see Aeonar, the slave's bemused lopsided smile doing little for her mood. At least he had her axe under his arm. While he congratulated her on her speech, she couldn't help but grin a little. He knew her well enough, knew how much she loved to put on a show, and though she's never admit it, she did tend to listen to his opinions. She'd been the one to capture him, and she was the one who'd spoken on his behalf to Centurion Agrippa, who in turn brought him to Caesar; she'd seen to it that his mind wasn't wasted on menial tasks, instead being relegated to the engineering and logistics vital to any force like the Legion.

She thought back to their earlier days. surprisingly enough it had been their taste in music that first started them talking; he had caught her whistling Borodin's 'Polovtsian Dances' as she led him and a handful of other captures to camp and joined in. She'd never met anyone else in the wastes who knew the song, and it astounded her. She quickly forgot herself, befriending the slave, talking on everything from music to philosophy to simple survival. It was rare for her to meet her match in old world knowledge, but this ex-vaultdweller was easily her rival, and despite their different roles in Legion life, they fast developed a strong though quiet friendship.

As he explained about her axe needing further repairs, she frowned, She hated seeing her weapon defaced, even temporarily - it was like am extension of herself, another limb. It had seen her days before the Legion, saved her on many occasions and taken more lives than she could keep track of anymore.

It too was a dear friend, and she often found herself tracing the faint carvings she'd etched into it as a tribal, reminiscing on her old life, though never missing it. She had come to the Legion by her own choice, at first simply admiring their cruelty, and perhaps longing for a new tribe to call her own, but over time she grew to admire their virtues, their values. What had begun as a simple fascination had grown to become an all-consuming fanaticism over the years, and hers was a zeal matched by few.

By the time she was wrenched from her thoughts, Aeonar was gone, and the sounds of a struggle made their way from Titus's tent.

"Ah, I'm glad you see my way," he said with malice as her pride crumbled away.

As she gave everything she knew about Golf, he was already planning the infiltration. As he plotted, listening carefully to every detail, he trailed the flat edge of the blade between her legs actually smiling at how her shivers and trembles increased.

Though he would never wish Lanius any harm, and fully believed the beast of a man could not fall to the NCR, Titus still thought of this is a huge step towards rising from his station - strangely due to this profligate.

When she finished, he hesitantly placed his machete on his desk, and let go of her. Seemed it wasn't the kind of fucking she wanted.

Titus was pleased. Not only did he have the information he wanted, and instilled such deep fear in the girl, but now she was beginning to hate herself for essentially aiding the deaths of everyone in Camp Golf. Such emotional torture was more the style of the Frumentarii, of those with more detailed touches like Vulpes', but Titus relished this bonus.

"If you ever think it is wise to defy me again. Take a look at the degenerates on the crosses outside. You'll have it worse than them."

Titus quickly sat down and began to write out his plan, for approval from Caesar or the Legate, and then wrote down his orders for his scouts to get to Golf ahead of the attack. He had no intention of letting the Veteran Rangers there be prepared.

Her old uniform felt like a strait jacket. It had someone else's name upon the stitched tag, "Kennedy" a corporal from Forlorn Hope who had been crucified.

Sejanus stood beside her, the guy scared the shit out of her, he looked a little uncomfortable in the NCR uniform, but considering what Aurora was carrying on her person, He had nothing to worry about, as long as he didn't trigger the detonator for the C4 that had been carefully cut down and strapped to her body.

She moved with the disguised Legionary through the old terminal building.

"Morning!" beamed the Quartermaster.

Aurora smiled thinly.

"Hi, got a req here for a truck, preferably trooper carrier." She said, passing the page to the dispatch. He looked over the forms,

"Forlorn hope, didn't we lose that to those Legion fuckers?" the sergeant muttered.

"Ran out of forms for Golf, so we had to use leftovers from Forlorn that were supposed to be sent before they got taken, poor bastards, didn't know what hit them." She said sadly shaking her head.

"Yeah, well, it's only a matter of time isn't it until they start reaching for Vegas, you guys at Golf be damn careful, if the Legion gets their hands on the pipework there, the Sharecroppers will be totally fucked, then what are we gonna eat, fucking Rocks?" he quipped without humour.

He handed her a set of keys and a pen to sign out the truck.

"Ok, serial number here, and sign there." He took the paper and signed it then stamped it.

"Truck number 20066445, she's a bit of a bitch on the clutch, and steering rig is heavy, but she runs and the fusion cell still got a fair bit of charge in her, watch out for the red bastards, if you do see 'em, just run them down, we need the ammo for Vegas." He grinned.

From beneath his helmet, Aurora noticed Sejanus scowling. She quickly nodded her thanks and grabbed the keys and turned on her heel and marches smartly out of the terminal building.

The two soldiers from different sides moved to the truck and got in. aurora checked over the systems, fuel cell was operating, the start sequence was engaged and the machine roared to life.

Aurora checked the mirrors; the side mirror was cracked but useable. She pushed her foot to the floor upon the clutch and put her into reverse with a heavy grinding of the ancient gears. She nodded to the other soldiers who were working, some waved back at her. She smiled sadly.

Sejanus had said nothing to her; she could feel the contempt flowing from the man as she hauled hard on the wheel just to get the machine to turn.

"Come on you ancient bitch, dispatch wasn't wrong when they said your steering was shit." She muttered to the truck. She drove the massive vehicle down the road until McCarran was out of sight, she pulled up and waited for Titus and his men to appear.  
She looked around at the scenery then looked down at her uniform. Who did she know at camp golf? Plenty of people

"Oh Shit!" she said, punching the steering wheel, and getting a look from Sejanus.  
"We have to change uniforms, there's people who I know at camp golf who will blow my cover if I'm not wearing my own uniform, and guess whose uniform you just so happen to be wearing." She pointed to the name patch

"PTE A. Cosgrove" stitched in black stitching was emblazoned over Sej's left side at chest height.

The Legionary shook his head, disgusted,

"You want to blow your Centurion's plans go ahead." She looked at the man, he was actually blushing.

"Look, if you've got body issues, fine, I'll turn away so you don't see me and I don't see you change." She said as she began to undress, "Just the jackets should be fine." She said, as she removed the top layer, unfortunately it was the only layer apart from her bra. She turned away and stripped the top and handed it to Sejanus who tossed her own jacket back to her.

She quickly dressed and felt in the left breast pocket, the two pictures that she held most dear were still in there, one of her with her family before she shipped out, and another of her dancing in a Wind Dancer Tribal ceremony celebrating her 16th birthday and acceptance into her father's semi-nomadic tribe as a woman. Sejanus quickly finished dressing and Aurora had done up the last button.

"Right, that's done, now we wait." Aurora muttered, still not happy with the situation, as she still had the explosives strapped to her for her co-operation. There was still no guarantee that she would live through this,  
but what the hell, you only live once.

A group of 16 or so shoddily dressed troopers approached the truck, Titus at their head. He looked uncomfortable in the NCR armour, not only because it was NCR, but the chest plate was rather small on a man his size. Titus herded his men into the rear of the transport then walked over to the driver's door.

"I don't know how you people wear this," he muttered. "Another detachment from my centuria is in the hills west of Camp Golf. They'll descend on my signal." With that, he climbed into the rear of the truck and continued briefing his men. This was an ambitious goal, so he had brought only his Prime Legionaries for the infiltration. He didn't want a recruit messing this up and having them all on the wrong end of an Anti-Materiel Rifle.

"Drive on!"


	8. Chapter 8

She was beginning to question the fates' humour. This girl, this snivelling wretch of a girl kept crossing her path like some damned reminder of what she nearly was. As they approached McCarran she had prattled on with the most pointless small talk, though she'd left off eventually when she realized Sejanus wasn't about to mince words with a slave. She loathed nervous talkers, and the girl's anxiety seemed to make her a god damned orator.

'How? How do I always wind up in exactly the wrong place, at exactly the wrong time, surrounded by exactly the wrong idiots?' she wondered to herself.

The assignment was chafing her pride worse than the ill-fitting uniform she'd been forced to don. She knew the value of guise and stealth, and she knew it was vital to this particular mission, but it made it no less shameful to have to wear... this.

The uniform was ridiculous. Hell, uniform was being generous, implying the rat bastards that ran the NCR had their shit together enough to assign any kind of consistent garb. She longed for her veteran armor, her second skin she knew and loved so well. Looking down at the jacket she wore, she was nastily surprised to recognize it as the one the girl had been wearing only yesterday. Yes, the fates had a cruel sense of humor indeed.

Once they arrived at the motley fort, she pursed her lips waiting for the girl, this 'Aurora' to say her piece. She fully expected her to get them both killed through some incompetence - a fitting end to stupendously miserable day; for a girl named after the dawn, she seemed rather dim.

She was surprised though, pleasantly so. The girl managed to smile her way through the guards' questions, even brushing aside their having the wrong forms on the fly. Though at first finding herself impressed, Sejanus reasoned it was only natural; females have some sick affinity for falsehoods and deception. No sooner had she thought that than the crippling hypocrisy of it hit her right in the gut, making her scowl. She came back from her bitter reverie just in time to hear the guard say something about 'running the red bastards down'.

Aurora seemed to notice her glowering, making an effort to hurry along their little exchange. Finally they got into the truck, Sejanus gingerly sitting in the ancient chair opposite the driver's side. She hated this old war tech, didn't trust it as far as she could throw it.

Hell, she didn't even fancy guns, preferring the reliability and grim satisfaction that came with melee, not to mention she couldn't aim for shit. Silently she gritted her teeth, praying to something - she wasn't even sure what - as the slave started the rumbling vehicle, checking the mirrors and grumbling to it as they backed slowly out of the camp. The ride was miserable, though at least it was quiet. Sejanus noted with no small pleasure the fear the girl seemed to feel towards her.

Finally they arrived at the rendezvous point and stopped. Now all that was left was to wait for Titus and his men. Without warning the girl swore and punched the wheel. Sejanus looked at her disdainfully, raising a single brow inquisitively.

"We have to change uniforms, there's people who I know at camp golf who will blow my cover if I'm not wearing my own uniform, and guess whose uniform you just so happen to be wearing," said Aurora, gesturing to the patch on the jacket.

Sejanus shook her head. Unbelievable. This day just kept getting better and better and better. First she's assigned to babysit this bitch, forced to wear the enemy's colours no less. Now this.

She grimaced, sure she knew what was coming. Even as the girl pointed out it would blow their cover, she could feel the blood rising nervously in her cheeks. She'd gone years in the Legion without being discovered, but still every time she had to disrobe she felt the dread of discovery bloom anew, scarlet flushing across her cheeks.

"Look, if you've got body issues, fine," she smirked insolently," I'll turn away so you don't see me and I don't see you change."

She was close to snapping at this point, and began pondering what the ramifications for wringing this impertinent little brat's neck would be. They already had the truck after all, and really how hard could it be to slip by the slack-jawed idiots at Golf? Still, she was the Centurion's property, and Sejanus thought better of it, watching the slight women undress, turning slightly away. Sejanus began struggling her way out of the tight uniform and beginning to pull off her t-shirt.

Her mind raced with excuses for the bindings about her chest lest she turn and see when the girl added, "Just the jackets should be fine."

Exchanging jackets, they quickly dressed. This new one fit just as poorly as the last, though in new and interesting ways. She did her best to will the red out of her scowling face, wondering what other joys the day would throw at her, what other little coincidences and headaches lay in her immediate future. It was going to be a long, arduous wait for Titus. A long wait with this girl she couldn't stand, wearing a uniform that didn't fit, in this truck she didn't trust, in the middle of fuck all no where in the hottest part of the damn day. 'How do I always wind up in the wrong place, at the wrong time?' It was beginning to become her mantra...

-

By the time Titus and his men were near, Sejanus had slumped nearly all the way down her seat, though she snapped to attention the moment she noticed his approach. He had with him what looked like nearly two contubernia, and for a moment she wondered if they truly had enough of a force to take a prize like Golf.

She reasoned they were all seasoned veterans though, knowing the Centurion wouldn't be fool enough to entrust this goal to a handful of raw recruits. She was greatly relieved to hear there were reinforcements gathering as well, and couldn't help but smile grimly as he complained about their dress.

She listened intently to the Centurion's briefing and strategies, gritting her teeth as the wretched vehicle chugged to life once more, rolling out over the harsh terrain of the Mojave. Perhaps today wouldn't be too terrible after all. She was beginning to like this Centurion, against her better judgement.

He was proud, to be sure, but listening to his plans and seeing him fight, she thought it possible he'd earned a little pride. Ambitious he may have been too, but that could be a blessing at times. He was no Agrippa to be sure, but he seemed cunning enough, and cruel to boot. She relished the fear the girl seemed to feel about him, the icy sneer he'd thrown her way before he'd entered the truck. Besides, she reasoned, ambition was what was leading them to take this Golf place barely a day after their previous victory. Any action against the dissolute was right by her books.

She just hoped ambition didn't get them all slaughtered.

'Drive on" Titus had said as he climbed in the back. His voice chilled her to the bone despite the sweat that trickled down her body from the mojave heat.

She started the truck up and engaged the gears. They rattled along deteriorated roads to camp Golf.  
She breathed deeply, she was the reason that her people would die, friends and comrades. Rangers and troopers alike. And in the end, she'd had no choice but to sing like a canary to Titus.

He'd still continued his sadistic torture of her by playing the flat of the rusty machete asking her legs. Afterwards she'd sat on the floor beside him, he'd asked her for clarification on a few things that she had said and she'd provided the information to him

Traitor Traitor Traitor.

The word ran through her head.

She drove along the damaged roads to Camp golf. She showed down approaching the gates.

"Hope your boss isn't Trigger happy." She muttered to Sejanus.


	9. Chapter 9

Posts taken from .com We Are Legion Roleplay! Come and join the fun!

The guards looked over the paperwork and waved her through. She Dove on through to the camp, stopping behind the mess tent where the men would muster.

The camps sergeant came up. "Wasn't expecting recruits but I'll take what I can get what with his high and Mightiness sitting pretty up on the Dam and Forlorn Hope gone to the dogs." The sergeant said as Aurora stepped down from the cab.

The sergeant looked at her

"Don't I know you... Cosgrove..." he thought for a moment. " yeah you were at Forlorn Hope, doing that talent show. Damn you were better than hot mama Horton!" He smiled and Aurora blushed,

"Thanks sarge." She grinned.

"You were stationed at Hope, how'd you miss that party?" He asked.

"Was on leave in Vegas. " she replied. "Now I'm at McCarran."

The sergeant nodded as the Centurion incognito came to stand beside Aurora. The sergeant noticed the woman pale a little.

"You alright soldier?" He asked.

"Yes sarge, need something to eat, haven't had anything since last night plus the heat today's pretty bad, especially in the cab of the truck."  
The sergeant nodded,

"Alright Cosgrove, go get some chow before you get back to McCarran." She nodded and moved off with Sejanus on her heels.

If it were this easy to get into an NCR base, Titus wondered how their spy in McCarran was discovered all those months ago or even why nobody had tried this before.

Peeking from the back of the truck he got his answer.

Veteran Rangers with high powered rifles stood lining the main building on the resort. If any of them were alerted during the raid, that building would become near impregnable.

It was late in the afternoon, so they didn't have long to wait until nightfall. They would play their parts until the sun went down, they silently dispatch everyone in their sleep, leaving the patrols and guards in their towers on the night watch to be picked off by the scout snipers in the hills.

He and his disguised men climbed out of the back of the truck and walked round to the sergeant who Aurora had just been talking to.

"Ah, fresh meat." the Sergeant beamed at them. He went on to tell all the Legion men how they would begin their training here tomorrow morning and that tonight they would be sleeping in the tents closest to the lake, along with the troopers misfits. But Titus wasn't paying much attention. All he could think about was how similar this was to when he was conscripted into the NCR many years ago.

Putting his burning anger aside for the sake of the mission, Titus followed the sergeant with his men to eat - he felt like he had to act like the insufferable weaklings who joined up to such a pathetic fighting force.

While they ate, in their own corner, isolating themselves from the NCR scum here, they did a head count of the troopers here. Roughly 30 here, eating, another 15 on patrol around the camp and maybe 20 or so rangers up in the main building, and some more who were dotted around the base.

Wouldn't be all that difficult if everything went to plan, though Titus wished Caesar had granted him a few of his Frumentarii - they would make this level of stealth look easy.

Titus had no idea where Aurora and Sejanus had got to, but he trusted the Decanus would make sure his property didn't wander off.

After the meal, which was awful at best, the disguised men and many of the real troopers decided to retire to their beds. The Centurion wasn't used to such a cramped tent, but his spirits could not be dampened by such trivial things, as soon he would have this brilliant camp and the ranger chief up on the cross.

Maybe he'd get Aurelius to look after Forlorn Hope so he could have his whole centuria out here - it'd be more useful than having that useless excuse for a centurion whiling away the months down in Cottonwood Cove.

Mags sought out Aurora when she had heard that she was in camp. The girls chatted away for a while, Sejanus looked bored.

Soon Mags and the rest of the troopers departed the mess hall. There were a couple of cots set up in the corner for them as space was at a premium with the new "recruits" arrival.

Aurora sat on a cot and sighed. Waiting for the inevitable was torture in itself. Sejanus threw a piece of red cloth at her.

"What's this?" She asked.

"Put it on your arm." Sejanus snapped peevishly.

Aurora took up the cloth and tied it to her arm. She sighed and settled in to wait.

The hours passed slowly. The anticipation drew each minute out longer than the men had thought possible. In the large tent by the lake, one of Titus' men stared intently out of the opening to see the sun go down and the men go to sleep.

Though there were fewer men out than before, it seemed to camp patrols had been upped in lieu of Forlorn Hope being taken. Thought they didn't know the time exactly, the Prime Legionary by the exit of the tent told Titus now was the best time, and with that, they all took red rags and tied them around their upper arms. They drew the NCR combat knives they had looted from the slaves and got ready to leave the tent.

Titus felt very naked going into this without his own armor. There was nothing substantial between him and the gun of a ranger, but it needed to be done. The auxiliaries in the hills had all the incognito men's gear.

On Titus whisper, the Legionaries left the tent in twos and quietly entered the surrounding tents, slitting the throats of all those sleeping. The Centurion thought he heard one man in the neighbouring tent struggle - maybe he had woken on the sound of his comrades gargling their own blood - but he was quickly dispatched.

Over the next few minutes, the disguised Legion men worked their way up the line of tents, silently thinning out their enemy's numbers, until finally they reached the officers' tent, right below the ranger's building. This was both where the comms were, and so close to the ranger sentries that any wrong move here would spell disaster for the rest of the operation.

Titus and a handful of veterans entered the tent slowly, treading on the balls of their feet. Only now did the centurion appreciate the lightness of his gear. One communications officer was still at her post, quietly writing requisitions, but the rest of them, including the sergeant looked sound asleep.

Titus nodded to a veteran who crept up behind the woman and slit her throat, dragging her body to the floor quietly as she bled out. Good.

The rest of the men positioned themselves over the ones sleeping in the tent and waited for Titus word. The centurion himself was standing over the sergeant from earlier. On his signal, the legionaries took the necks of their targets.

So far so good, thought Titus. This camp really did deserve to fall if they were going to make his job so easy. If this were a legion camp, the mongrels would have alerted him to any intruder already.

Sejanus was tense, and it made Aurora edgy. She knew the legionary would rather be out there murdering her comrades in their sleep.

Aurora sat on the floor beside the cot and looked at the two pictures from her pocket. She sighed at the memory of the day that she left home to start her training. She noticed Sejanus watching Her from a corner of the tent.  
She put the pictures into her bra where they lay between her left beast and the material of her bra.

The atmosphere outside the tent changed as someone screamed. Searchlights were activated and gunfire started as the Rangers were alerted to the attack.

Aurora was quietly hopeful that the Rangers, the best of the best of the NCR would win the day.  
The sounds of shooting and shouting continued.

There was a noise by the back door to the tent.

An NCR ranger stood before her. He looked at her and noticed that she had a red armband. He raised his hunting revolver and aimed it at her.

"Don't you move, bitch." The man said angrily. Aurora raised her hands showing that she was unarmed.

The ranger went for his radio and began to call for reinforcements.  
His call was cut short however with Sejanus cutting his throat from behind.

Sejanus carefully wiped clean his blade and hauled Aurora to her feet. The mess hall was now no longer a safe place for the Centurion's property, they would have to risk going outside.

Sejanus gripped Aurora's arm and marched her out into the chaos outside.


	10. Chapter 10

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Titus had felt this was too easy the second they'd left the officer's tent. All of a sudden, a veteran ranger had walked down to the tents, holding a sniper rifle. Those rangers could see through the dark with their helmets. Relying on technology because they lack to skill to defend themselves fairly. Scum.

"What are you doing out here at th-". The ranger stopped mid sentence as a knife found itself lodged in the space between his helmet and his riot armour. The Legionary yanked the blade from the profligate's neck.

"You fool!" Snapped Titus to the legionary, under his breath. As the ranger fell to the ground, the others on watch by the big house turned to see to fake NCR troopers with their red armbands standing over the ranger's corpse.

As the rangers approached Titus and his men, he knew the time for subtlety had passed. If they were all questioned or caught up in the murder of this ranger they would be discovered eventually. Better to attack when they still had the element of surprise, and while the numbers in the camp had been whittled down to essentially just the rangers. Luckily, none of those rangers who had witnessed this had reported inside, but Titus was more than prepared to lose a few lines of recruits to clean them out.

The centurion told his men to follow his lead. He raised his hands as two of the four rangers outside came up to the group, their weapons aimed, their fingers on the triggers. As one bent down to see if the dead ranger was still breathing, the other held his aim. Faster than either party could react,

Titus lunged at the ranger who was checking the corpse, grabbed his brush gun, and turned it on the second ranger, using his brute strength to position the first between him and the second's rifle. The second fired at Titus, hitting the first ranger between the shoulder blades. At almost point blank range, the riot armour did not stop the round from severing the human shield's spine. Smirking, Titus dropped the human shield and pulled the trigger of the brush gun, sending the wide, heavy round through the face piece of the second ranger's helmet.

The sound of gunfire was the Centuria's signal. With a battle cry from the hills to the west, 60 legionaries charged, their cowboy repeaters and machetes raised, some preparing to rain throwing spears into the crowd of rangers now gathering at the main entrance to the building.

"Now it begins..."

The disguised men all drew their NCR sidearms, most wishing they had their own gear.

The Veteran rangers, fresh in from Baja, instantly jumped into action - they weren't the kind to be paralysed by fear like the average trooper. They filed out of the main doors on the east side of the building. As they rounded the corner to discover the legion intruders, and spot the centuria running at the Camp from the hills, the first ranger's corpse fell by their feet, thrown by Titus. Seconds later, the grenades the centurion had hidden in the pockets of the ranger's coat went off.

Before the dust had settled, Titus and his veterans were on the disoriented foes.

Aurora looked around at the chaotic scene before her, being in the supply division, she'd never really seen any combat, nor had she ever fired a weapon in defence or attack against the enemy.

The smell of blood and bodily fluids attacked her senses, gunpowder burning, the noises of men screaming, groaning, dying assaulted her. It was no wonder that men returned from battle 'shell shocked'.

Sejanus pushed her down behind a bunch of crates and went to help with the dispatching of the Rangers, reminding her that she was still armed as a human bomb by showing her the detonator with a look that said "Move and I'll blow you to kingdom come"

Aurora nodded her acknowledgement of the fact that Sejanus still held her life in his deadly, blood stained hands.

The battle sounds reminded her of the drums that her Father's tribe had used in their ceremonies, dull thuds and sharp taps tattooing their beats through air and flesh, metal, wood and canvas. She heard the truck's engine blow as it took too many hits from errant bullets, it would soon explode and send out some shrapnel and a nice bit of radiation as its fusion fuel cell went into mini-meltdown, Aurora knew she was too close to it, and decided that if she was going to explode, it would be on her own terms.

As men screamed and died nearby, she moved slowly, unseen by any Legion soldier, they were all too busy trying to kill the Rangers to notice the former NCR soldier moving away to a safe distance.

She took cover again near another large crate, and watched. The sounds of gunfire began to die down as more rangers died, and their numbers dwindled to a couple of still able-bodied Rangers.

Aurora spotted Titus, bloodied from his deadly efforts, relishing the battle and blood of his enemies, dealing death to the last of the Rangers outside.

She looked to the ground; the body of a Ranger was nearby, his .357 Magnum revolver laying a meter from her. She bent down and picked up the weapon. She checked the ammunition in the barrel, there was one bullet left.

He would be the first man she killed. Perhaps the only man she killed if she wasn't killed first.

She stepped slowly, the weapon held in a two-handed grip, its modified long barrel pointed down, she watched him as she moved. She felt every rock beneath her Army-issued boots. She took a deep breath and aimed for him; she gently caressed the trigger and almost lovingly squeezed it.

The last round rocketed with the explosion of gunpowder and forced its way through the barrel, the air and the head of a fallen, but not yet dead NCR Ranger who was aiming his own .357 for Titus, unseen by the Legionaries.

His head exploded, his blood splattering Aurora's body and face. She held the now empty gun still in her hands, still pointed at where the Ranger's head had once been. Her heart drummed a racing beat within her chest. Her lips parted still from the breath she took before she squeezed the trigger, exactly as she'd been shown in basic, one foot forward to take the recoil.

She didn't see who took the gun from her and escorted her away, her mind wasn't with it, She'd killed her first man, one of her own men, one of her people as he tried to kill a man who she knew was her enemy.

It made no sense to her.  
Behind the Mess Tent, the truck's engine exploded

Warm sticky blood spattered the back of Titus' legs as the downed ranger's head burst open. He looked behind him to see the dead man and Aurora holding a magnum with a smoking barrel. His bloodlust faded momentarily, giving way to a little shame. His pride was hurt, being saving by a women. A slave no less!

The outside was taken, his centuria lightly damaged by the assault, and the remains of the camp hidden inside their building - soon the be the Centurion's new outpost.

Titus stormed up to the slave girl and slapped the weapon from her hand. No woman would fight for him. He growled at her, but was unable to berate her; she had just saved his life. Titus would never admit to anyone a slave had saved his life, and if she mentioned it to anyone else, he'd have her on a cross before she finished her sentence, but deep down he was grateful.

He had an idea to clear the interior. Without any explanation as to what he was doing. Titus tore off Aurora's NCR fatigues to reveal the C4 strapped underneath. He threw them to the floor, and took all the explosives from her before telling one of his recruits to keep a close eye on her.

The Legionaries had been wise enough to stay away from the open doors of the building - the rangers had their .50 cals all aimed at that small opening. Titus reached Sejanus, at the front of the legionaries waiting by the entrance. He didn't bother to ask why the Decanus had left his slave unattended - that would come late - he just took the detonator from Sejanus and pushed him aside.

"You. Look inside quickly and tell me what you see!" he barked to a recruit. Hesitantly, the recruit stuck his head in through the door, peeked around, and withdrew it just before a round embedded itself in the door frame just inches away.

"They're using the reception as cover. There's only a handful, and Hanlon is there."

"Excellent," Titus growled as he strapped the bomb vest to the recruit. "You've done Caesar proud, boy. You know what to do."

To anyone outside the Legion, this level of zeal and fanaticism would look mad: the recruit legionary sprinted full pelt straight at the reception behind which the last of the rangers were taking cover, taking a few small rounds to the chest, before diving over the surface top of the desk and landing in a crumpled, bloody mess by the rangers' feet. A moment later, the reception wasn't there.

Aurora's shocked mind regained control as Titus grabbed her uniform and ripped it from her.

She had no idea what he was going to do, her worst fear that he was going to rape her in front of his men was proved unfounded as he removed the bomb vest from her, ripping the duct take that held it in place from her body, leaving red weals and eliciting a sharp intake of breath from her.

She stood there in her suddenly inadequate bra and fatigue pants. The cool night air met her skin causing it to go to gooseflesh. She shuddered as men looked upon her body; the scar on her lower back itched where the duct tape had been ripped from her body.


	11. Chapter 11

Posts from .com Come and join the Fun!

Titus left her under the watchful eye of a recruit. She wrapped her arms around her body, trying for a bit of modesty, but only succeeding in pushing her 'attributes' up a little more, and ensuring more attention from the recruit than was really required of him.

Her ruined uniform lay upon the ground beside her, she looked down and reached for it, the recruit beside her came on guard, making sure she didn't do anything stupid. She picked up the fatigue jacket and put it on.

The fasteners had been ripped from the khaki material, but there was still enough that remained of the jacket to give her a little bit of modesty, she'd have to hold the jacket closed herself, but it was a small price to pay for her own self-respect and modesty. She tugged the jacket on over her shoulders and slipped the arms through the sleeves.

They watched as Titus sent the young legionary into the reception area wearing the vest he had taken from her. She was amazed that the young man was willing to die in such a way. She realised how true the rumours were about the fanaticism of the Legion soldiers. They were crazy-sons-of-bitches.

She heard gunfire and then finally the explosion from the C4 rattled the windows. Smoke and dust billowed from the open doors, one or two rangers staggered out to be cut down by Titus or his men. Aurora lowered her head in shame, this was all her fault, the rangers were volunteers like her, and they had been willing to die for the NCR. But she hadn't died, she'd just accepted her capture and that she was going to die, not in battle, but at the whim of some soldier of the Legion.

What she hadn't expected was to become a slave.

She watched as Titus' men moved in and brought out chief Hanlon to Titus. The Leader of the Rangers was covered in dust and blood trickled from a head wound. He was stunned, but quickly regaining his senses as he was held captive by Legion soldiers.

A Recruit came up to Aurora and her guard.

"Slave, you are to go and prepare Hanlon's quarters for your Master." He ordered her. When she was slow to respond, her guard shoved her in the direction of the Resort's building.  
She moved past Chief Hanlon who looked at her, he saw the regret in her eyes.

"Stand tall, soldier, be strong." He said to her, before he was struck by one of the men who held him.

Aurora moved through the destroyed reception area, scorch mark, broken tiling and splintered wood littered the floor, sharing space with unidentifiable body parts and torsos still in their armour. The recruit pushed her up the stairs to Hanlon's room.

"Clean up in here and prepare it for the Centurion!" he barked at her. She nodded.

"Yes sir."

She began gathering clothes discarded in the rush to get to the fight, she found an empty sack and put the clothes in it, leaving the sack of clothing by the door. She stripped the bed of Hanlon's sheets and moved to the Cleaners Room where she gathered fresh linens for her master's bed. She made the bed in the precise military style that she had been taught, Hospital corners, and tight sheets, if she had been back at her old base, she would have passed inspection quite easily for it.

She turned her attention to the bathroom. There was a box of Abraxo cleaner in there already. She went to the sack of clothes and found one of the more 'raggy' pieces of clothing. She scrubbed the bath, sink and toilet down until they were cleaner than they had been before the war. She collected several buckets of water for his bath should he wish one.

She looked up from cleaning the sink and saw in the mirror that she still had blood upon her face. She ran water through the faucet and scrubbed at her face, there was little she could do about the blood on her uniform, but at least she no longer had the Ranger's blood upon her skin, just her soul.

She finished cleaning and went down to the kitchen where she collected several bottles of purified water and some fresh fruit.  
She returned to the former NCR Chief Ranger's quarters and arranged the food and water on the table. She looked around, in her mind; the place was ready for its new occupant. She sighed and moved to the Recruit who was guarding her.

"Please inform my master, that his quarters are ready when he requires them." She asked the recruit, who simply grunted, as if he would take orders from a slave, let alone a woman.

He leaned in and shut the door on her, leaving her alone in the room that she had prepared for Titus.

Aurora looked around; she moved to the far wall in the living area and sat down on the floor. She brought her knees up to her chest and reached into her bra. She pulled out the two photos and looked at them. The innocence of a sixteen year old smiled back at her, heavy mallets in her hand as she struck the Four Winds, four large bass drums with the heads of a Deathclaw, LakeLurk, Giant Ant, and a Fire Gecko set on their stands.

She began to doze, settled up against the wall, her head on her arm, and her hand still holding the pictures of happier times.

The battle for Camp Golf was over. The Legion had won. Caesar would be pleased.

Before talking to the Ranger Chief, held tight by two prime legionaries, Titus was ordering different groups of his men to search the perimeter of the camp and root out any survivors and gather all the corpses in the middle of the camp. He'd deal with those soon.

Titus grabbed Chief Hanlon by the cuff of the shirt and dragged him into his old office, bringing two veterans with him. "You are Hanlon, yes?" Hanlon remained silent. "You are going to tell me the locations of every ranger deployed in the Mojave." Still silent.

After all that effort, the few men he'd lost, and having to act as a filthy degenerate just to get here, the centurion was losing what little patience he had in the first place. Without warning, he threw a punch at the ranger's face. It connected with a sharp crack as his fist fractured Hanlon's jaw. The chief recoiled and his hands went to his mouth, but he was ready for Titus' next hit. Just before the second punch landed, Hanlon stepped aside, grabbed Titus' arm, and used his own force to slam him into the wall behind him.

The centurion stood for a second, dumbstruck by the foolish bravery of this ranger in the face of his enemy. But he had just been assaulted by a captive and he would not stand for that. "Tie him to the desk," he said calmly to the two veterans in the room with him. Fully prepared for any torture Titus had prepared for extract information from the chief, the veterans took out lengths of rope, and struggled to tie Hanlon down to the top of the desk. "You should have just answered the question, and I'd have let you free." scorned Titus.

He walked to the door to leave and turned back to the veterans.  
"Flay him alive. Strip his flesh and salt the wounds. Let me know when he's ready to talk."  
And with that he left.

For the next few minutes, he was instructing the leading Decanus on what to do, how to secure the camp, getting the legionaries on patrol and into the tents for the night if necessary. They knew the drill after taking Forlorn Hope.

Titus was looking forward to settling into this camp. It was a perfect location. It was close to Vegas, so Caesar would be than happy to send more recruits his way, and it was on the water supply for the NCR farmers, so they could destroy a food source for their enemy, and perhaps least importantly, it was a fucking luxury residence compared to where the centurion had spent most of his days.

Time to retire for the night, he thought. Dragging his tired body up the stairs to the main bedroom a Decanus had told him had been prepared for him, he opened the door and began to throw off the tight NCR gear.


	12. Chapter 12

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The sound of the door opening and Titus throwing of his gear roused Aurora from her slumber. She quickly stuffed the pictures back in her bra and got stiffly to her feet.

She looked bedraggled; hair a mess, eyes red from weeping and she was still in her blood splattered and ripped NCR uniform.

"Good Evening, Master" she said to Titus.

The centurion briskly strode in, continuing to undress, acting as if he was paying her very little attention. In a few moments, his NCR gear was strewn over the floor and he slumped face down, almost naked, onto the bed.

On hearing her, he did feel strangely awkward - as though their slave/master relationship had been violated by tonight's events. If anything, despite his disgust at her choice of allegiance, he felt as though he owed her a debt. Though he would never think of admitting it in front of a legionary, and maybe not even to her, she had saved his life. The centurion did want to maintain the distance that was essential to her serving him, but part of him also wanted to thank her.

He resolved to show he had noticed her deed through action rather than word.

"Take off that uniform," he grunted, his face still buried in the bed sheets. He didn't mean for that to sound as demanding or threatening as it did - he knew wearing the blood of the NCR wasn't really her style.

Aurora watched the Centurion as he threw the hated uniform off and moved to the bed. She almost expected to be stuck for daring to hold a weapon in his presence on the battlefield, but she was not expecting him to ignore her.

She flinched when he ordered her to take off her uniform.  
She was secretly glad to, but also concerned. There wasn't much else for her to wear other than her underwear. But then again, that was all he wore now. She removed the soiled fatigues, top and bottom and stood before the bed.  
"Would you like me to draw your bath, Master?" She asked, unsure as to what else she could do.

He grunted a yes and rose from the bed. The water here was by no means warm, but since it was drawn from the lake, and running, the bath was filled far quicker than when the officer usually get their slaves to fetch the water.

Removing the last of his clothing, Titus climbed into the tub in the next room and began rinsing his skin of the blood caked onto it. He did this is silence, leaving her without orders, probably only adding to the confusion he felt.

After a while, when he was satisfied that all the blood had been removed, he stood and climbed out. Beckoning her over to the sink, he wet his hands and softly put them to her face to get rid of the ranger's blood.

She kept her eyes downcast as he cleansed himself after the battle. Her arms found her shoulders and she tried to cover herself as best she could.  
She moved hesitantly towards him at his insistence. When he touched his wet hands to her face to cleanse the blood that had rubbed off from the soiled uniform onto her face as she slept, she flinched involuntarily.

She trembled beneath his fingers, unused to the gentle touch of his hands.

She took a deep breath,  
"He... He was my first kill..." she shuddered, a single tear rolled down her cheek and over his fingers as they washed the blood from her face.

He brushed her tear away, but kept silent. He didn't really know what to say, and he really could empathize with her at this point. The first one stayed with you forever. Titus had been doing this long enough that that was the only one that stood out - the rest were forgettable. She had served the Legion in saving an officer, so he'd decided to cut her some slack; the same as he was unofficially given after his first NCR victim.

He steered her by the shoulder back into his room, and decided that for once, his slave would not have to sleep on the floor. Titus, exhausted from the day's events, and hopeful of any cooperation from Hanlon fell backwards onto the bed and grinned. The one thing he was sure of right now was that Caesar would be pleased.

Aurora fell with Titus onto the soft linen. She landed upon her side and watched the Centurion as he grinned.  
She was confused as to his behaviour; her first encounter with him was one of violence, about to be violated by him only to be saved by a Decanus with orders for him.  
Now she lay beside him as meek as a kitten, he was handsome as she had noticed before. But he was her master now. He could do as he wished with her.  
She sighed, she felt as exhausted as he looked.  
"Is there anything else I can do for you before you retire for the evening, master?" She asked from her position beside him.

"Tell me your name..."

Aurora smiled softly; his scent was strong, despite his bath. Masculine, heady, but clean.

"My name?" she asked him. "It's Aurora." She reached over and gently caressed his battle scarred arms with her free hand, tracing her fingers over the lines of damaged skin and old wounds.

'What are you doing?!' her mind screamed at her, 'He was going to rape you and now you throw yourself at him?' she ignored the voice of reason and shifted a little closer to him as he watched her.

She took his hand, feeling the callouses from wielding his weapons of death and lifted it up to her lips, she gently caressed his knuckles with the softness of her kiss.

Her lips were warm. Titus rolled over to his side, facing her and caressed the side of her face, she did not flinch, nor did she tremble as he moved closer and took her in his arms.

He leaned in closer to her and kissed her.

As the night deepened, soft sounds of their lovemaking were muffled by the closed door of the former NCR Chief Ranger's quarters as Titus took his captured NCR slave to his bed.

Hours later, as Titus slept, Aurora sat on the end of the bed, her head in her hands, and she knew she had to escape, sleeping with the enemy in a moment of weakness, what was she thinking?

She'd seen other NCR Soldiers fucking after battle, getting rid of their nervous energy, but that was fucking, a mutual need for it, but this it seemed to be something different, she'd saved his life, by taking the life of a Ranger, she'd given up the information of  
Camp Golf so he could take it, albeit under duress.

She was a traitor to her people and a traitor's death awaited her back home, either hanging or by firing squad or by crucifixion dead was dead. She didn't want to die, so she would have to plan and time it right.

What did she have to lose?

It was quiet, almost too quiet. She took a deep breath and broke cover into the darkness. Running silently past tents within snoring Legionaries slumbered on cots that once held NCR troopers.

She was so close to the fence that she could see and smell her freedom just beyond the bricks and bars of the old fence. She moved over to a section that was bent and slipped through.

Her 'Master' was sleeping deeply after another eventful day, Hanlon still hadn't offered anything valuable and Titus had been in a poor mood. Aurora knew she was taking a massive risk, tempting fate, and his anger like this, but she had to get away. It was her duty as a captured soldier of the NCR to harass, impede and eventually escape the Enemy.

She desperately wanted to get home and redeem herself for her actions against her people, even if that meant prison, or worse, the hangman's noose. She moved across the road leading up to the resort and found herself hiding from a patrol. The Legion mongrels sniffed the air as they passed and continued on.

Aurora sighed softly, and moved on. She was away from the perimeter patrols and sneaking across the open when Sejanus saw her, he ordered his men to surround her, she was like a Coyote caught in the Brahmin pen, fear played upon her face as she knew she was caught, and her punishment would be severe.

He smiled grimly, and grabbed her roughly.

"Trying to escape were we? Slavery too good for you, Profligate whore?" he snarled and struck her hard, the Slave fell to the ground. Sejanus took satisfaction that the NCR whore was caught trying to run, and that she had been caught so close to actually getting away. If it hadn't been for Sejanus' noticing a movement out on the plains that didn't look like an animal, they would have totally missed her.  
She was hauled roughly through the camp and into the resort building.

Sejanus brought her before her master.

Aurora lowered her head and slumped her shoulders, fearful, and dejected, she knew that she was going to suffer for her transgression.


	13. Chapter 13

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Titus stood at the top of the stairs of the resort at Camp Golf as Sejanus threw Aurora to the ground. The building was strikingly quiet - the usual buzzing of the Decanii and the screams of Hanlon's interrogation were not there.

The Centurion looked groggy, bedraggled even. Even for a man his size, that med-x was strong. He'd been downing bottles of bitter drink all afternoon trying to wave off the dizziness left with him after such a huge dose. He slowly walked down the stairs towards Sejanus and the traitor. One thing noticeably different was Titus' armour.

It was no longer the bloodstained patchwork of the armours of men he had killed, but instead it was a brand new suit of heavy gauge steel, a lighter copy of Lanius armour. It lacked the red apparel of the Legate's, but had a brass yellow Legion bull emblazoned across the breastplate. Caesar was so pleased with the capture of Camp Golf, that he had bestowed upon Titus the honour of being the Prime Centurion of this cohort. Over the past few days, more and more detachments of men, and their officers had been sent to Camp Golf to bolster such a position close to Vegas. When Titus reached the last step he hopped down and stared Aurora straight in the eyes as she looked up at him from the ground.

"I'll see you rewarded for this, Sejanus. You may leave now."

Aurora saw the anger in his eyes; she knew bad things were coming her way. He had warned her. She hadn't listened.

She sat upon her knees on the tiles of the floor, chipped and cracked tiles dug into her bare legs, she trembled before him as the Decanus and his men left her alone with Titus. Her breathing shuddered through her nose and she shook visibly before him as he walked around his recaptured Slave.

She had miscalculated the dosage of Med-X; it should have been enough to ensure he slept until at least mid-afternoon. His silence was penetrating, stabbing fear into her heart. What had been between them before, a trust of sorts from her saving his life, had now been shattered with her betrayal and failed attempt at escape.

She waited for him to speak, a trembling wreck upon the floor, tears forming at her eyes and silently running down her nose to drop onto the slave rags she wore. Her hands bound behind her.

Any normal slave, Titus would have nailed to a cross and branded his initials into so they'd die knowing their life was not their own. But this one... She had drugged him, betrayed him. A few days nailed to bits of wood and burning a 'T' across her stomach with his thermic lance would be too swift a punishment for her.

He had better plans for her, but until they came into fruition, she would still have to be taught a lesson.

Titus grabbed her by the back of the neck, hoisted her up to her feet, and led the recaptured slave to his room.

The door to his room opened and he threw he to the ground. As he entered, his uncharacteristic stoicism disappeared, and he backhanded her across the face.

Aurora's feet barely touched the ground as Titus hauled her up the stairs to her masters room. There she felt the anger in his backhanded strike she raised a hand to her cheek where the mark was deepening.

She sobbed at the pain and the humiliation of being captured. She knew the man before her should have her upon a cross right now, but this was unexpected. She went to her knees before him and waited for his next move, be it Strike, or cutting words, she knew that to apologise for her behaviour would simply anger him more, as he would know she was only sorry that she had been caught.

It would be both. The centurion slapped her again and again, never making a fist. He wanted her in pain but not to be damaged. A damaged slave would be useless. He had contemplated fucking her with a rusty machete, but that'd make her less inviting for his own 'long sword'.

He grabbed her hair, pulling her head back so she would look him in the eyes, but she dare not. Titus was a vengeful man. He'd practiced this before, going out of his way to kill his old CO at the first battle of hoover Dam. Though this would be more refined than murder. He would let her rise higher than ever before, just to make her fall even further.

She bore the pain of his punishment with what little dignity she could muster; yet even that crumbled as he pulled her head back, trying to force her to look at him.

She wouldn't dare meet his eyes, lest he see the contempt for him she felt. The fear and terror that he was instilling into her was obvious for him to see. He struck her hard, her hair slipoed through his fingers and she fell to the floor in a sobbing, shaking heap.

"A little insurance." Muttered Titus as reached for something on his bed. He held up heavy metal collar, a wonderful product of some slavers further east. He placed it over the back of her neck, then went to clasp it shut around the front. He couldn't tell if she was just shaking or struggling against him, so he hit her again and finished putting the collar on.

The last strike brought the reality home. He wasn't going to kill her. .. not yet. He was keeping her alive, for whatever reason she couldn't even begin to wonder.

She heard the click of the collar as it closed around her neck, she reached up to touch it, and realised what it was before her fingertips touched the child metal. She finally looked at Titus, the realisation stark in her Brown, red rimmed eyes. There was no escape for her now. For better or worse, whatever he wanted, she was his slave.

It was too tight, deliberately so that if it was ever taken off, she would still feel where it dug into her.

"If you have any ideas about wondering off again, feel free. But know that I'll have your head mounted on my wall."

He had more planned for tonight. Grabbing Aurora by the collar, he dragged her downstairs to Hanlon's office. He had been tied to his wheeled office chair, and was barely clothed. It was plainly visible that plenty of his skin had been removed. It looked puckered and yellow, infected from the filthy blades of these torturers. His head was hung low, like he was barely conscious.  
The legionaries stayed silent but Titus turned to Aurora.

"You make him talk."

Aurora's eyes wandered over Chief Hanlon's body, a mess of wounds, stripped flesh, if she didn't know better she would say he had been 'ghoulified' but the fresh welling of blood from his wounds showed the truth.

She wept at the state that the men of the Legion had brought him to. she was shoved roughly, "Make, him talk." Titus repeated.

"Chief Hanlon, my name is Aurora Marie Cosgrove, I am a former private with the Supplies Corps from camp Forlorn Hope and am now in the service," she took a deep breath, "Of the Glorious Centurion Titus Vulcanus, I would like to discuss the location of each ranger that is stationed within the Mojave."

She looked at the Chief seated before her. "Sir, I implore you, speak to me and your suffering will end."

He spat blood at her feet. "Traitor." he mumbled.

Titus whispered in her ear.

"There are tools on the table. If he speaks, he is a free man."

He wanted Aurora to play vital role in his campaign. She should feel ultimately responsible for the eradication of the rangers in the Mojave. He nudged her forward. Clearly they were past the point of asking for the information. These greedy NCR pigs usually only responded to bribes of their freedom or good old fashioned torture.

Aurora looked at the tools upon the table, some rusty, others clean, some with dried blood upon their blades and edges. She swallowed, the tightness of the collar impeding her, hurting her. Her hand hovered over the tray of tools.

"Chief, please. I know about your misdirection with the Rangers. I was one of Reyes' friends at Forlorn Hope. She told me about the inconsistencies. you are as much a traitor as I am." she said to him, her hand still hovering over the tools.

"Speak to me, tell me where they are and you can go free." she implored him once more.

"Darlin'," he said softly, "You and I both know that neither of us have a hope in hell of getting out of this alive, or with any part of our dignities intact, I can see he's already broken you, but I'll be damned if I let him use you to break me."

Hanlon looked at her. "You know where they are, you have been sending them supplies from Forlorn Hope, you tell him."  
Aurora sighed. "Quartermaster Mayes looked after those requests." Hanlon smiled at her from behind his damaged face.

"Remember the presidents, they'll show you the way." he said. he turned to Titus, "and you, Son, you can go to hell, I've told her everything she needs to know. the information is here, you just have to find it, now if you're going to kill me, get it over and done with." Aurora looked from Hanlon to Titus, she then looked at the desk, not wanting to see what came next, there was a picture of president Tandi in a frame next to his computer.

Titus pulled Aurora aside and whispered. "If his information proves helpful, I'll keep my machete from between your legs..."  
"Hanlon. You've served your purpose, and out of respect for you, I won't nail you to a cross. You'd have done well in the legion..."

Titus reached into Hanlon's desk and found his ranger sequoia.

"Now you die a free man's death."

Titus pulled back the hammer and fired two shots.


	14. Chapter 14

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At Titus' words to her she shuddered at the memory of his machete patting acrid her inner thughs. She closed her eyes and flinched at the two gunshots that freed Hanlon from his suffering. His body still tied up to the wheelchair.

Aurora looked at the picture of president Tandi. She picked it up and looked it over. A pretty young woman looked back at her, smiling with benevolence. Aurora wondered if the longest running and most loved president of the NCR would have c done v the same as her in this situation.

She gripped both sides of the frame and smashed it against the corner of the desk. The shattering glass butting into her right hand in the meaty part below her thumb. Fresh red blood welled up over her hand as she pulled the picture of Tandi from its frame.

There was a fresh piece of paper underneath worth small handwriting. Names and serial numbers the Rangers. A single drop off her blood touched the corner of the paper and blotted towards the wiring. She pulled her bleeding hand away and handed the paper to Titus. She looked at the walls, names and numbers wouldn't be enough. She looked around. The presidents will show you the way. Hanlon had said. She stepped out of Hanlon's office and through to the office across from his President Kimball stared at something in the distance in his portait.

There was something in the corner that caught her eye. The canvas was peeling at the edges. She picked a corner with thumb and forefinger and pulled. The false canvas came away easily revealing a map of the Mojave, and the locations of the ranger stations and the safehouse was revealed. Aurora stepped back, bumping into Tutus as c she did so. Blood reddening the palm of her hand and dripping down her fingers to the floor. She was numb to the sting of the cut.

"So my machete will stay a virgin tonight," Titus said with mock disappointment. He took the sheets from their frames and handed them to the legionaries in the room with them. "Make copies for Lanius. The rangers will no longer be a thorn in our side." Said the centurion.

When the troopers were all that was left, taking Vegas, making a new Rome, would be easy. She had gotten results when his butchers hadn't. But yet again, through her, his centuria, and now his cohort, would succeed where Lanius and the Burned Man had failed. She'd started the extermination of the rangers. And when the cull was over, she would be 'rewarded'.

"And now, so you never forget that you belong to me. That you are only alive because I allow it - in case you think about running away again..." Titus raised Gehenna and her blade burst into flame. He used his other hand to grab Aurora by the arm and hold her still. "Let this be a constant reminder that your life not your own." He pressed the flat edge of the blade into her arm, twice, leaving it there for a few seconds as she struggled, burning a cross into her, like the one on her rags.

The searing pain blinded her, and her pain filled scream was involuntarily ripped from deep within her being and harsh in her ears. It was as if she was watching from far away, but felt every touch of the flame as he seared her flesh, marking it forever with the sign of a slave.

Her legs turned to jelly with the shock and pain, the smell of the burning flesh, her burning flesh crisp in the air. she sank to the ground, tears running down her cheeks, her face an exquisite contortion of agony. she gasped as the first waves of pain dissipated after he had finished marking her.

More agony continued to wash over her as her vision cleared, emanating from the burned arm, she found herself on her knees, head bent and her free hand gripping the edge of a desk.

"Yes, Master." she said hoarsely, "I live only to serve." she said through deep gasps of agony, she felt his grip on her arm as sensation returned to the rest of her body after the over-riding burning pain that he had inflicted upon her.

Finally, Titus felt a bit better about her act of betrayal. Her pain - her retribution - was what he wanted more than anything at the moment. After letting his guard down ONCE, he'd come to regret it the very next day. The compassion he'd felt for the first time in years had withered the second he found out what had happened. Only when she begged him for death would he be content, and then see no reason to fulfil that wish.

He laughed callously as she fell to her knees offering up her token obedience in the face of her punishment.

She hated herself so much, she knew that she would never see her family again, she would never lead her grandmother's Tribe as the Wind Caller, the dance leader, forever denied her now. All she had to remember her family now were the two pictures and her cloth name badge tucked away in her bra.

His cruel laughter burned her more than the sword had, her spirit flared and dimmed, he had won, and he knew it. There would be no more 'mercies' after this, he would be upon her like a Deathclaw if she fucked up any of his requests.

"Master, how may I serve you?" she asked placidly, her pain still evident in her eyes and the slight cracking of her voice. Her head lowered, her eyes would not meet her masters, so deeply was her despair that if she were to look into his face, she would crumble into a mess of tears and terror.

Titus was conflicted. On one side, he was an officer of the Legion, and he was completely justified in treating this degenerate whore like the scum she was; but on the other, this girl had saved his life, hence their night together. And he had genuinely enjoyed it - not having to have the customary bravado of the Legionary, just her and him, and his wanting to show her some kindness.

In truth, it was that soft spot he had for her that made him so furious. For the first time since he had joined the Legion, he had been hurt. In his head, he battled to justify how he was treating her.

He thought for a short moment, on what would be degrading to her - something he had not yet done to her.  
"With your lips..." he replied.

Aurora raised her head and looked at him, she didn't want to be anywhere near intimate towards him again, but she had promised to serve him.

She slowly arose from her position; his hand still gripped her damaged arm. She raised her arm with his hand still gripping her to her trembling lips and softly kissed his hand. She gently took his hand from her wrist and opened his fingers; she caressed each fingertip with soft lips before she moved his hand to her chest to caress her breast, she felt the movement against her skin as the pictures shifted between the bra and her flesh. She absently wiped the drying blood from the cut on her hand before she moved her injured arm up to caress her Master's face. She stepped in slowly to him and placed a gentle kiss against his lips.

Titus could tell how uncomfortable she was doing this for him, and it struck him as hugely ironic given last night. His hand went from her chest to his own head, as he placed him helmet on the desk behind them, then back to her body. His hands wandered over her curves as he pulled her closer into him. He wanted this to start off as a faithful recreation of the night before, only this time marred by the clear hatred the two shared for each other. It wouldn't be the same as that moment of weakness before. It'd be the meaningless, degrading abuse an officer committed against his property.

Aurora felt his need to dominate her, this would be nothing like their first night, when she had freely given herself to him. She had no choice in the matter this time.

'I embarrassed him, by not being a *dutiful Slave*' she thought to herself as he closed the door to the small office. 'This is part of my penance.'

Alone and away from prying eyes, his roaming hands became more demanding; she pulled away gently, and pulled the slave rags up over her body, revealing her lithe form. She winced as the rough material scratched the fresh burns of her arm.

she dropped the slave garment onto the ground and allowed him to take her in his rough desirous embrace. She could tell that this was not how he wanted it to play out; there was something deeper to him, something that went beyond him being a Legionary.

She knew that they would never have another night like they had before, or at least, not for a very long time. He picked her up as if she was nothing at all and sat her upon a desk, clearing the paperwork and clutter with a sweep of his arm and then pushed her roughly down to lay back on the surface he had cleared.

She lay there looking up at his features, waiting for him to take her, in anger, or desire, or both.

The pair took off their rags and armour as quickly as they could, not helping each other but undressing themselves. The difference in atmosphere could not have been greater. Titus' new armour came off quick in a few pieces, faster than good old patchwork suit and soon enough he was undressed. He cleared the desk of all the shit that was on it before and roughly pushed Aurora down onto the desk where he lifted her legs and took her underwear. It looked better on the floor anyway.

What came to follow was not fun. It was rough and painful, and to make it worse, when he was done, and he'd thrown her rags back at her, he pointed out that Hanlon's gross, flayed body had been watching the whole.

"I'm sending my scouts out to these stations tonight. If your info is off, tomorrow night, it will be a spear I fuck you with."

Aurora sat up and dressed as quickly as she could, she was hurting in more places than she cared to think about, her hair was knotted and strands of it were upon the desk and the floor where he had pulled it form her scalp.

She gingerly eased herself off the desk to the floor where she went and assisted Titus with dressing. "Yes, Master, I understand." she replied demurely as she helped to buckle the breastplate to his chest.

She placed the wrist guards upon his arms and tightened the straps. When she had finished, she stood to the side and waited his next orders.


	15. Chapter 15

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The weeks from the triumph at Camp Golf passed slowly. Every day, more and more legionaries from across the Mojave, and parts of Arizona were moving east, making their way to Camp Golf. Every ranger station in this desert had been cleared with the help of the information gathered from the last Ranger Chief. With all the rangers in the Mojave either dead or in disarray, now was the best time to move the Legion campaign forward - before the NCR could call in more reinforcements from California.

Taking McCarran was the next step. The last couple of days had seen Centurion Titus Vulcanus locked away in Hanlon's old office, trading various messages with Caesar at the Fort over the radio, planning the assault, asking for more men, leaving the room only to eat and shag.

About a week before the attack was due to begin, the numbers at Camp Golf and Forlorn were in excess of the six hundred men. Caesar had even sent the Legate to command the assault. Titus was not overly please about being second in command to a man he considered to be a poor leader, but he had to accept the son of Mars' judgement. One thing Titus would not do was allow this animal to take credit for all the hard work he had put in.

The days before the march to McCarran saw the legionaries training hard every day and night. The sounds of clashing blades and war drums echoed from both taken camps as they prepared for battle. The blacksmiths issued ground away at metal, while the centurions and decanii barked orders at the men.

Finally, the day had come. The NCR must have expected this, but they expanded too quickly to have enough reinforcements to hand. Good. That self-righteous, hubris would be their downfall. At the crack of dawn, the men at Forlorn Hope marched west, approaching McCarran from the east, while the men at Camp Golf marched south the attack from there. Lanius first suggested a full frontal assault, but was discouraged by his centurions. The man was a fool - everything he did had to be honest and purchased with blood. He'd run headfirst into a disaster the same way the Burned Man had.

The newest of the recruits were on the front lines. Their poor equipment and basic machetes would not do them much good until they were up close and personal with the degenerates they sought to cull. On the long march, Titus noticed that no traders or merchants were on the roads today. Surely word of his success had shook the foundations of the perceived NCR security.

The southern attack force went through the Fiend Territory near vault 3, but the fiends, even in their jet addled stupor, knew better than to try to fight a legion cohort.

When both sides were in position, they would fire a flare. Then the bloodbath begins.

The sounds of the Four Winds, the Wind-callers beating the large kettle drums with the heads of four deadly creatures called to her, Aurora opened her eyes.

Her sixteen year old body stretched, welcoming the Dawn for which she was named. Her grandmother was out with the other Wind-Callers, welcoming the Dawn, one day it would be Aurora's duty to rise before the others of the Semi-Nomadic Wind Dancers and take the heavy mallets with their Brahmin-skin coated heads and beat the Welcome of the Day with the other appointed Wind-Callers.

She got up and left her grandmother's tent and watched the sky lighten. Her heart soared with the sounds of the drums; they represented the freedom of the heartbeat of the Tribe. She heard the flutes, hand carved by members of the Tribe, begin their haunting melodies representing the dawn's winds coming together with the heartbeat of the Tribe.

She couldn't help herself, she stepped out barefoot, toes pointing with each step like the natural dancer that she was born to be. With grace and litheness she moved like the winds for which the Wind Dancers were called.

The hard training that she had undergone through her short time with her grandmother's tribe and the visits that they had made to her family's farm had made her into a graceful athlete. She twirled on the ball of her left foot, gracefully bringing out her right in a lazy pirouette, and raising her left arm to the sky while her right curved around her hips.

Ba-Boom, Ba-Boom…

The Drums continued her grandmother's mallets rose and fell to thunder across the tightly stretched animal skins of the drums. The old woman and still as lithe as she was when she was a young woman, she smiled at her granddaughter,

"You'd better get up, Little Dawn, your master needs you." She continued to beat harder at the drums before her.

"The Drums of War call to all who hear them, you have a service to perform as you promised."

The noise of the war drums sounded louder and louder until the skins of the drums split and she awoke on the floor at the end of Titus' bed.

She sat up and rubbed sleep from her eyes, the sound of the War Drums penetrated the walls of her master's room in the resort at the former NCR installation.

Titus slept soundly; their encounter last night had left her sore, as he had been rough with her in many of their recent times together. She could tell he was stressed, as his actions towards her had shown. She was slightly bruised but not so badly damaged that she couldn't work.

She quietly arose and prepared his armour, and finished packing the items he had requested be ready for the morning. Her dream of her younger days with her Grandmother's tribe faded slowly, she remembered the joy of the dance that she felt again in her dreams, the pulse of her heart synchronised with the beat of the Tribal drums.

She went down to the kitchens and prepared his breakfast, it had taken a few weeks for him to allow her to go near his food again after she had drugged his water and attempted to escape.  
The collar on her neck had stopped any further thoughts of running.

Titus arose and she helped him dress in his Armour. She smiled softly at him.

"Today will be a good day, Master." She said to him, he grunted in response.

Aurora turned to one of the little girls who was also a slave and took the heavy box of food that would be taken on a cart hauled by more slaves. She smiled sadly, knowing that the little girl would be with the rest of them behind the main lines of the Legion's army, working with the other slaves to keep the army watered and fighting.

It was time to march.

As the war drums roared, Lupe stood up straight and tall. He had been preparing for this battle for a very long time. Even before he was told that he would even been in the city of New Vegas, her been preparing.

In truthful, Lupe was scared. Not of the bear, but of what would happen to him after the fight. Today could be the last day he'd ever laugh with his fellow legionaries, today could be the day he ever seen the sunrise or smell the burning villages of the profligates who dared step up towards the legion. But Lupe would do his best to make sure that he wouldn't fall in battle.

Lupe snapped out if his thought as his Decanus, started to speak to him and the 10 legion recruits next to him in the front lines.

"You guys are one of the first to advance towards the profligates camp. Treat this camp no different from any other ranger station we cleared out" said his Decanus

Lupe had grown to respect the leadership of his Decanus. Even when they were taking to the task of clearing out ranger station Echo, which seemed like they wouldn't make it out alive with the low supplies they were given, they all made it out alive. Lupe doubted any other 'fool' the legion called a leader could have done a good job like he did.

Lupe strapped his stands red issue cowboy reaper on his back and make sure his freshly sharpened machete was on the hip of his makeshift holster on his uniform. Once everything was in check, he put on his mask, tucked in his bandana, and out on some dark shades.

He then started to march on towards the Bears main camp.


	16. Chapter 16

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Her stomach turned as he repeated himself.

"Yes, Decanus. The Legate, as in Lanius, is coming to oversee this assault. Mars boy, how many times do I have to repeat myself." Agrippa chuckled, leaning back in his chair.

The old Centurion had only recently arrived with the rest of his centuria, and Sejanus hadn't had a chance to properly greet her old friend and Centurion since. He had grown a bit heavier during his easy assignment back east, defending their borders in what had once been Colorado; still he had the same dignified look she always thought befitted a Centurion. In her ten years as his subordinate they had developed a surprising friendship. He was like a father to her; upon seeing her potential as a young Legionary, as well as her stubborn loyalty, he began watching her. He'd been the one who promoted her to Decanus all those years ago.

"Come now, you look like a certain brave Decanus I used to know. I still remember the day I promoted him, it was one of the few losses I'd ever known. One of my Decanii had ordered his contubernium to attack what he'd judged to be a weak-point despite our intelligence to the contrary, only to lose 34 of my men in the ensuing bloodbath against the tribals. Furious, I ordered all my centuria to line up for decimatio. That boy's Decanus at the time, a coward of a man called Aelius, had ordered the boy to take his place for fear of being executed. Sure enough, he was chosen in his stead and beaten damn near to death. The boy crawled back the next day much to everyone's shock though, and even after all that refused to speak against Aelius," he sighed, remembering. "I figured it out of course, with a few solid guesses and Horatius's help. For his cowardice, I stripped Aelius of his rank and had the bastard crucified, naming that boy the new Decanus soon as he could stand again." Agrippa leaned back over the desk, steeping his fingers and smiling wickedly,

"But that boy wouldn't be standing in front of me now, blanching at the thought of his own Legate now, would he?"

Sejanus grimaced, all the same being glad of his praise. She began her nervous pacing once more, wincing as the still healing wound on her thigh screamed in pain. The night of their taking Golf a stray round had hit her as she frantically searched for Titus's little whore. She scowled, remembering she'd told the girl to stay put but realizing now she should never have expected a creature like that to be capable of following instructions, even as simple as that. Foiling her would-be escape had offered her a little vengeance, but even so...

The sounds of the war drums' tattoo and the shouts and drills of the men outside wafted in lazily, and in the cool tent it was almost easy to forget what was going on, what was about to happen. She felt herself shiver once more at the thought of that monster coming here.

In her one dealing with him, it had been as the role of healer; he had been shot and as the most capable surgeon on hand, she was called on the help. She was one of the few to have seen his face as a result. Even as she extracted the bullets, he didn't make a sound; his eyes and expression - what she could make out between the ghastly scars - were as still and terrifying as the visage of Mars he wore before most. As surgeon she was tasked with healing, her life only in danger if failed. As a soldier however... she'd heard of the Legate's arbitrarily cruel leadership, about his utter abandon in battle, sometimes even striking down his own to get to the enemy. Shaking herself from her dread before it got any worse, she went to help the old man with his things.

Her fellow Decanus Quintus had agreed to oversee their training and preparations in order to give her time to help and catch up with Agrippa, yet all she'd done since hearing about Lanius' arrival was worry. The Centurion traveled light despite the trophies and lauds awarded him over the years, learning the hard way how fickle the Legion's favor could be. Within moments his tent and gear was set, and they were walking to the mess for an early dinner, discussing the upcoming battle and old times.

-

The next day dawned bloody, "A sure sign from Mars," rasped the old Centurion. "Today will see more blood spilt than I've seen in some time now."

Sejanus and several other Decanii were helping him oversee the troops formation as they set out from camp. Though pointless in battle, rank and file were still rigidly kept on the move, especially in such large forces so as to keep from confusion or disorder. Offering a silent prayer to whoever might listen for hers and her men's safety, Sejanus stepped in with the grim march. A prize like this was bought with a lot of blood, and though she knew it was a Legionaries duty to die as well as kill for the Bull, she preferred the butcher's bill land on the enemy's tab today. Though the brunt of the fighting would be done by the recruit troops, the greenest and most expendable, she still worried.

The men about her were her family. They meant something to her, despite her Legion training. They'd saved her lives and she theirs more times than were worth counting anymore. As their leader, she felt a debt to them, felt she owed them her best and couldn't help but nervous that she would fail them someday, and failure in these conditions meant men would die.

Somewhere amid the ranks, someone started up a familiar jody call, the cadence being taken up quickly by most of the troops. It helped with the nerves a bit, she could see the fear slowly leave several faces as the call and response continued, their pace picking up ever so slightly to match the beat of the chant. As lyrics of the Bull rang out from near a thousand lungs, as the cohort sang on for glory, and death even Sejanus found herself a bit moved, feeling a lightness yet headiness brought on by war's fervor.

"And Mars, bloody, shall smile!" the caller bellowed.

"Our swords drawn and reddened will flash!" resounded the men.

"And the Bull triumphant!"

"Triumphant all shall return from the clash!" she joined in.

She felt herself smiling despite her misgivings. 'Triumphant we all' promised the tune. It was a nice thought - a pretty lie - but still she smiled at the thought. And so they marched, the red eagerness among the newer troops palpable, the resigned bravery of dutiful veterans keeping close measure. And so they marched.

The march was long, the heat of the Mojave sun not helping the men in red, but was absolute torture for the slaves dragging the supplies slowly advancing toward their rally points. The Legate and the Prime Centurion along with other high ranking officers took the southern detachment, while the remaining Centurions and officers took the eastern group. This attack on two fronts would offer the best chance of victory. The southern detachment's recruits would take the brunt of the NCR fire through the main entrance, while the eastern forces would breach the walls of the compound and attack from the rear. The plan was fool proof, and with the lack of rangers here, losses should be acceptable. After all, the average trooper was a reluctant conscript with a few weeks training, whereas even the legion recruits had been through years of arduous practice.

Despite all of this, Titus was anxious. This would be the largest battle he'd fought so far. Forlorn Hope and Golf seemed so trivial in comparison. This was the biggest foothold the NCR held by Vegas, and should they take it, the war in Nevada would be all but won. Vegas would be easy to take - it's just gamblers and prostitutes. The Prime Centurion kept quiet throughout the march, leaving ordering his men to the Decanii under him and Lanius.

A vast group of slaves trailed behind the main fighting force of each detachment, carrying with them more supplies, ammunition, medical equipment, and everything else the Legion would need to garrison this camp and recuperate after the battle.

Hours after the march began, the southern legion lay in wait in fiend territory, the war drums silent, waiting for the signal from the other side. Lanius was at their head, his great sword planted in the ground by his feet. He stood there silently, Titus at his side. The Centurion stood tall beside his commander, his thermic lance and shishkebab ready to taste Republican flesh. Minutes seemed like hours, but finally, the signal came from the eastern men, led by Centurion Agrippa.

The orange bolt of fire lurched into the air and arched over the repurposed airport. The eyes of every man in the southern legion went up to see the flare from the east. Lanius nodded at Titus, who drew a flare gun from his hip and reciprocated the signal.

The Monster raised his right hand, and the silent sea of red roared to life, charging forward, parting, flowing past the Legate and Titus.


	17. Chapter 17

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Aurora was helping the other slaves to set up her master's tent; no-one knew how long this battle could last and the slaves were ordered to prepare for anything. She pulled hard on the rope that was wound halfway around her arm; it wore against the crossed scar that had formed after Titus had burned her with his shishkebab.

The little girl slave behind her helped as best she could, but there was really little she could do other than go and gather buckets of water from the nearby pump station. Aurora was bathed in sweat and tired from the march after helping to haul the heavy equipment with the rest of the slaves.

She had seen Lanius, the man was a mass of armour and dark auras, the legends that surrounded him bringing fear to each slave he passed, Aurora took an involuntary step backwards as he passed her, despite her being far enough away to escape the monster of the east's notice. She heard the cheer as the first flare rose to the sky, she turned and watched as the orange phosphorous flare burned the sky.

She paused in her work to watch as Titus, standing beside Lanius raised another flare gun and fired, in his new armour he looked magnificent, almost like a war-god, standing beside Lanius. Aurora took a moment to honour her friends at McCarran, and hoped that their deaths would be swift, but knew that the truth would be far more brutal.

She finished setting the tent, and the little girl came to stand by her side, passing her a ladle of water.

"Thanks sweetheart." Aurora smiled, the girl looked so much like Dana, her eldest niece at 7 years old. She turned to the sounds of the men of the Legion charging towards the NCR.

"You look sad, Aurora." The girl noticed.

"Yes, I am, today we attack my people." She sighed, placing the ladle back in the bucket.

The cries and footsteps of the charging legionaries drowned out the starting of the the drums. Men with thermic lances melted the gate's fastening, and within a minute, the recruits had flooded the courtyard. Gunfire crackled and blades crashed with dull thuds into the soft fatigues of the profligates. The troopers were vastly outnumbered. Even having consolidated their forces to McCarran, the number of troopers here seemed pointless. The extra men Titus had requested a week ago now looked excessive when he saw that his cohort outnumbered the troopers two to one.

Within the hour, the outside of the camp was almost cleared. The interior would be the hard part.

Though the rangers were gone, the NCR 1st Recon were still around. A .308 delivered from one of the camp's many towers punched through the helmet of a Decanus mere yards away from the Legate.

Lanius pointed out the towers, and sent the prime legionaries he had kept in reserve to remove any troopers in the towers.

The inside of the old airport would be hard to take. Multiple entrances led to multiple choke points on the inside. Heavy troopers with their LMGs were aiding the troopers, hunkered down at positions close to the doors.

Titus sent a scout round to the east side of the wall, where Agrippa and his men would be attacking from the other side, nearer a smaller entrance with fewer defenses.

The sounds of gunfire echoed back to the Legion camp. Aurora came out from within her master's tent into the heat of the day. She turned to where Titus and Lanius stood, and saw the head of a Decanus near Lanius explode and the man's body crumple to the ground.

"First recon are still there." She mused as she looked to the old airport.

Strangely, she began to worry for him. If he died, what would happen to her? resold to some lowly Legion soldier, or perhaps even placed upon the cross for the final death that the men of the legion believed that she deserved for being an NCR soldier.

"Must be hard for you and your master, watching this." Mused a nearby slave.

"What do you mean hard for my master?" Aurora asked, turning,

"Don't you know?" she smiled, "Your master was an NCR soldier before he came over to the Legion." She continued, as she stirred a pot of stew over a fire.

"No," Aurora said softly, "I didn't know, I just assumed that he was always Legion." She said, as she watched Titus standing beside Lanius. She turned and moved to help the little girl carry empty buckets back to the pump station. They were on their way back with full buckets when the ground exploded in tiny little ricochets before them, the girl screamed and dropped the buckets of water.

Aurora turned her head to the direction of where the bullets came from, two Fiends had gotten up the guts to fire on them, Aurora dropped her own buckets and grabbed the girl, she ran back to the camp, while reserve Legionaries ran past to take the threat behind them.

Aurora stopped once she had gotten to the first line of tents, and checked the girl, there was blood on both of their slave rags, Aurora didn't feel the sting of the bullet as it grazed her shoulder, and she was too busy looking at the wound to the girl's stomach. She knew instantly that there would be no hope of the child's survival. The girl's eyes showed the pain, and were beginning to lose the light of life.

"Sing to me, mama, like you used to…" she whispered. Aurora's tears fell to the upturned face of the child as she cradled the girl in her arms and went to her knees.

"Hear the four wind's call, little one…" she began to sing softly as she wept. It was a lullaby from her grandmother's tribe. "Dance to their song, little one, dream their dreams, feel their heartbeat, and rest until the dawn little one…" she child shuddered and took her last breath as Aurora continued to him and gently stroked the child's hair.

The Slave who she had spoken to before came up behind her and placed a gentle hand upon her shoulder as she gently rocked the girl and hummed the lullaby. Deaf and blind to the goings on about her, unfeeling to the pain she felt in her shoulder, her tears falling to the pale face of the child below in her arms.

he Legion and NCR were at an impasse. Any legionaries trying to get inside the airport were torn apart in a hail of bullets, while and trooper stupid enough to try and escape were gunned down or chopped up. Night was almost upon them, the NCR had no way out. The scout Titus had sent to the other side reported back that Agrippa's men had managed to hold the NCR inside the building the same as the southern group had. 'Fine', thought Titus. This battle would now be a siege, a war of attrition. They'd have to starve the cowards out.

The Legate had retired to his tent at the rear of the officer's camp south of McCarran, and left Titus still standing alone looking down at the legionaries setting up their tents by the walls of the camp. Eventually, the NCR would cave and the Legion would flood in through undefended doors and slaughter any survivors. Without food or clean water, this shouldn't take more than a week or two before the troopers were too weak to fight.  
Finally, Titus turned from watching his men set up camp, and went to his own tent among those of the other officers.

Aurora had handed the body of the child to two other slaves who wrapped the girl in cloth and placed her with the pile of bodies. He shoulder had been roughly bound with a strip of cloth, blood still seeped through the makeshift bandage. She returned to her master's tent and awaited him, sitting on the mat that would serve as her sleeping place. She didn't wait long.

She arose when Titus arrived, and took a glass of water to him.  
She could tell from the look on his face that victory had not yet been achieved. She helped him to remove his armour and brought his robe to him. Her mind went through the events of the day, the death of the child, her injury, the revelation of a rumour from the other slave woman about her master.

She wanted to ask him about it, but knew better than to ask him in the present situation. "A good day, Master?" she asked softly as she brought him a plate of fruit.

Titus walked inside and dropped his weapons to the ground, taking the glass of water and gulping it down. It had been a long day. He raised his arms and let her undo all the straps of his armor, placing the pieces neatly on a stand. Wrapping the robes around himself, he fell onto the bed and sighed. It was supposed to be easier than this. With all these men, and all their training, this should have been a cake walk. But maybe it was better that those degenerates die like starved animals.

"As good as any other," he muttered to himself, his mood picking up a little as he remembered he could take his frustrations out on his property.

Aurora placed the plate upon a table beside his bed and kneeled beside him, she worked her hands over his back working the tenseness out of his muscles; her left arm was a little weaker than her right with the pain she had begun to feel from the bullet's cut.

"I understand that we have the enemy besieged, master?" she said, as she worked at his shoulders.

Her mind going through what she knew of their supplies situation, but her information was weeks old, and unless they were able to get supplies from the other old highway past the Deathclaws and the jackals and Khans, their supplies might last just over a week.

"Indeed we do. They're held up inside. They won't last long," he chuckled. The two were in silence for a few moments, the only sound being the movement of her hands against his body.  
"What happened to your arm, girl?" asked the centurion, doing as best he could to keep the concern from his voice.

She looked to her arm where the red of her blood had soaked through the bandage.  
"One of the child slaves and I were getting water from the pump station near the camp, and two fiends decided that we were easy targets, I was grazed, but… the girl… she… died in my arms." Aurora looked away and forced her tears to stop. She turned her attention back to her master.

"Reserve Legionaries took out the two Fiends." She said softly.

The Fiends. If their minds weren't so drug addled, they'd have been inducted into the Legion long ago. He made a mental note to make sure they were ash after the Mojave had been claimed from the republic. "A shame," he said, "a whole life of servitude ahead of her. What a loss."  
"You'll be down there tomorrow."

"'Down there', Master?" She asked, confused,

"Forgive my ignorance, but I am unsure as to what you mean." She said as she paused in her ministrations to his muscles moving down from his back to his legs.

"You are going to deliver a gift to your old friends." Like he had said all along, she would be one of the most important factors in kicking the NCR out of Nevada. Titus would sure as hell not let Lanius take all the credit, but he wouldn't mind if this girl was told she was the one most instrumental in the republic's defeat.  
"Though I'm not sure they'll enjoy it."

At his words, she went cold. Her skin prickled with fear, she swallowed the bitter taste in her mouth. "Yes, Master, I live to serve." she said softly, sadly.

She did not know if she was going to survive this latest plan of her master. She finished massaging his legs and turned to him,  
"May I do anything else for you, Master?" she asked him, a tinge of fear and sadness in her eyes.

"Indeed you do. Get some rest. You'll need it for tomorrow."  
With that, he wrapped himself in his covers and lay his head to rest. Hopefully the night was cold.

Aurora left her master's side and finished cleaning up the tent before she went to her mat at the end of his bed and lay down on her good shoulder to sleep.

Her mind ran through the events of this day, her family never far from her thoughts. For the first time in her life, she feared the coming of Dawn.


	18. Chapter 18

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Sejanus found herself pacing once more, stopping only to swear and kick the occasional slave unlucky enough to cross her path. The coldness of night had set in and they were at a standstill. Siege.. The Legion wasn't good for a drawn out fight under most circumstances - they were a 'hit and run' kind of army, depending on surprise and quick ferocity to overtake their prey. They were ill equipped for a siege and she had a damn good idea of who would be sent back to get supplies.

Agrippa's centurion was always made to do the boot-work since the first Battle for the Dam. A small ambush had delayed them and they'd arrived a day late, missing the slaughter that devastated the ranks of many other centuria. Sejanus was among the few decanii to have survived the first Battle, Boulder City having claimed most of them, and there was still a stigma about her and her peers. They'd been sent east as punishment, not allowed to join in the conquest and rebuilding on the western front. They'd not been called back till the second Battle, and still they tended to get all the least glamorous assignments.

"Survivor's guilt... that's what they want from us.." she muttered to her self, stopping to shiver in the cold. She pulled her night-cloak about her shoulders but the scant cloth did little against the chill.

"A damn siege! That's all we fucking need, eh?" came that familiar gruff voice. Agrippa came into view of the brazier's light, stumbling a little as he made his way back from the latrine. The old man stopped by the fire, warming himself against the cold. "And we both know who'll be hoofing it back to request supplies," he added grimly. "Ah, and I remember so fondly my days as a promising youth.." he said, sighing in mock nostalgia.

"What before the War?" smirked Sejanus.

Agrippa chuckled. He missed seeing the Decanus smile. Things had been too tense lately, the Legion pressing its advance as hard as they could so as not to lose any momentum or force. It seemed they had finally hit a wall though. The day had been hard fought at first, they had taken the eastern side and dug in without letting go. By evening however it was clear they were at a tedious impasse, unable to force their way into the terminal. Sending in a fresh wave to hold their ground for the night, the Centurion and his men retired to their camp, getting food and rest for the morning.

For a moment the two of them stood silently by the brazier, gazing in quiet recollection. The day had cost a lot, admittedly mostly recruits, and they -had- taken their share of NCR with them, but even so... How many more would die holding the siege? Sejanus knew she'd not be around to see,

"Should probably start packing, shouldn't I sir?" she asked with a bitter half smile.

Agrippa sighed. "Suppose so, lad. They'll most likely be sending us off for aid first thing, along with a report for Caesar. Always picked as the bearer of bad news aren't we..."

Sejanus shrugged resignedly. A small part of her was relieved she had to admit. Being sent away, though dull, meant she and her men would be free from the Legate's ire. Though there was no honor in it, there was no needless death, no waste of life. She turned her face sheepishly, frowning at the thought. She knew some called her weak for her attachment to her men, but they meant more to her than she liked to admit. They'd been with her for years, some since she'd joined roughly a decade ago. They were her friends, her family, her charge. The thoughts of those she had lost still hung heavy on her heart.

As if sensing her mood, Agrippa clapped her on the shoulder. "Get some sleep, Sejanus. The morning will be here all too soon and we might as well face the tedium with a modicum of grace."

Sejanus nodded, stretching before turning her back on the fire to head for her tent. The morning would be austere, but at least she had sense to know what came. With a final glance back and wave to Agrippa, she entered her contubernium's tent.

She lay down among her men, the smell of sweat and the filth of battle strong at such close quarters, but the warmth provided by their closeness outweighed any such minor discomforts as she settled in against the cold night. Besides, she thought, there was a certain comfort to such a familiar smell, and a primal part of her loved the smell of others, the safety it seemed to afford. She smiled, letting sleep take her the second she closed her eyes.

Lupe and his squad of ten made a small camp like everyone else were doing. It was getting dark and cold. This normally would've been avoided since most of them could handle it but they needed all the rest they can, plus they weren't going anywhere, anytime soon.

Lupe sat down with the other legionaries by the small fire they had just made. Even though it was freezing below his wait, he somehow felt warm. Either it was by the sheer excitement of the Bears soon quick death, or it was probably by the heat of the campfire. Either way, Lupe found it comforting.

Lupe soon looked in his small pack and took out a bottle of water and some Brahmin beef jerky. He took little bits listening in as the other legionaries talked about the upcoming battle. Some of them seemed ready enough for a fight, most were ready for a bloodbath.

One of Lupe's squad mates, whose real name was hard to remember, tapped Lupe on the shoulder.

" What do you think about the battle against the profligates?" Said TJ, who Lupe decided to make that his nickname.

"I think it'll be a quick and fun battle. If we're lucky, we might even be able to take down a couple of the remaining Power armoured profligates" said Lupe.

TJ nodded in approval at Lupe's short comment. He soon went back to talking with the others but Lupe didn't stay long to listen to it. He went outside the tent he had been assigned to sleep in and he stated doing the same exercises he's been doing his whole life. He did his usual 50 push-ups and 100 sit-ups. It wasn't much compared to everyone else in the legion but it was something his dad taught him to do ever since he was little and he's been doing them ever since.

Once he was done, he crawled inside the tent an laid across the bedroll he set up earlier. He pulled out a small necklace around his neck and he squeezed it softly as he slowly drifted to sleep.

Lupe dreamed of the last time he'd seen his father. It was when Lupe was 16 years old and he was just getting done with the usual training of young men his age. He knew this was the day his father was going away to fight against the profiles gets who dared stand up to the legion. Lupe didn't know much about it but he figured it was just some big shot squad from the west who thought the legion were just a bunch of slavers.

His father was in his 40s with the rank of Centurion. Lupe thought about the fact that his father was one of the newly ranked Centurions and that he was being sent to command one of the camps that were expected to be hit daily by the bear.

His father caught the look in his eye and told him not to worry and that he'd fine against the tribe of the Republic. His father have him a small necklace and told him that it was the same necklace his father have him when he was about his age.

Lupe didn't get the time to reply back as he was awoken by one of his squad mates who told him it was time to get ready for the attack

Morning came, and the vast majority of the legionaries arose. The officers seemed unsure of what to do. A siege seemed a simple enough process, but the Legion were an offensive army. Holding the line here meant losing their momentum, and in the weeks it would take to starve the enemy out, they I-15 may already be flooded with reinforcements. Even the Legate, with his mind ill suited to strategies beyond 'charge!', must have realized this.  
Yesterday, as the men had poured into the courtyard of McCarran airport, Titus Vulcanus had already begun to suspect the NCR troopers would use the interior for choke points by the entrances. Maybe that NCR training was paying off - he knew their tactics well.

He and the other centurions in the southern legion had been struggling to come up with a way to break this siege early. They'd come up with nothing concrete. Titus had only realised as he walked into his tent that he had in his possession a very valuable asset. When McCarran was desperate for supplies, who better to have under him than someone from their supply corps?

Not only would the NCR defences break, but he'd get to punish his slave again. He did wonder whether he was putting far too much effort into making her life hell than was actually deserved, but regardless, this actually helped he legion - her pain was just a bonus.


	19. Chapter 19

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In the early hours of the morning, Titus had sent his scouts into Vegas dressed as gamblers. The atmosphere there was supposedly more somber and fearful than before the second battle of hoover dam. The information they'd gathered was that the McCarran garrison was going to receive supplies via the Vegas monorail early in the evening. But perhaps the most important part of their mission was that by early afternoon, the supply crate with food and ammunition had been replaced with crates of jury rigged explosives, mainly made from the howitzer shells from the Fort. Now all they needed was someone from the supply corps to wave this delivery through, and oversee the delivery itself.

Aurora held her head in her hands, again she was being 'forced' to do a traitors work, her enslavement to Titus and the god damned collar that had pressed against the flesh of her neck constant reminders of her situation.  
She was once again dressed in NCR Fatigues; a Supplies Corps insignia stitched into her shoulder epilates, a face wrap attachment hid her Slave Collar. She again wore a dead man's uniform, "Smith" stitched into the name badge.

Two Legionaries arrived with Titus behind them. Aurora rose to her feet and stood before him.

"I'm ready, master." She said sadly.

Having her dressed up in NCR gear yet again was old but gold. "Good to hear."

"Come." He beckoned turning and walking toward the edge of the camp. "You know your job? Go with the supplies from Vegas, to McCarran, then detonate the first batch. When they go to help their wounded, detonate the second. Understand? Fantastic." He said patronisingly.

"From here you're on your own," he said pointing to Vegas in the near distance. "But I'll be watching." He held a veteran ranger's anti-materiel rifle in one hand.

"Don't disappoint me. My entire arsenal will taste of your 'virgin's' lips".

"Yes, Sir." Aurora said and moved off towards the closest entrance to Freeside.

Within the slums people watched her, some not sure if she was there to help or not, there were several groups of Troopers, the feel of the place was one of foreboding, and no-one could ignore the sea of red out there.

She passed through the gates past the Securitron Gate Keepers who let her pass. The feel on the strip was worse. Soldiers staggered, inebriated, whores didn't dance a vividly as they used to. She passed through the other gates and headed up to the Monorail station, she felt Titus' eyes upon her all the way.

The soldiers waved her through, seeing the ensignia of the Supplies Corps on her shoulder. She smiled and nodded.

She boarded the Monorail with the supplies and sat right beside the first box of destruction. Breathing deeply to calm her nerves, the two detonators sat in her pockets, one on each side. She was careful to place her hands on top of her lap and not touch them.

"Left side, first, Right side when they go to help with the wounded, left, right, left, right." She thought to herself nervously.

An old NCR cadence call sounded in her mind.

"Left, left, left, right, left, I once knew a girl from shady sands, who was good on her knees and great with her hands, I knew it was right, right, right to take her out on the town."

The Monorail rattled into the station at Camp Mccarran, Aurora stood and helped with the unloading, she indicated to the troops where the first crate was to be placed, along with several others. She looked for the second, marked with a tiny red x. to her shock, it was right beneath the first box of explosives.

"Hey," she pointed to the two soldiers nearest to her, "This has to go over there with those other crates." She said,

"Why?" asked one, "What difference does it make?" he asked.

"It's where it's gotta go, with the other crates, you don't just mix up medical supplies with ammo do you? God, you grunts are so damned dumb." She said as she helped them to move the crate to its place with the medical supplies.

"Right," she said, making a show of signing everything off on her clipboard. "Where's the Can?" she asked one of the women troopers. She pointed past rows of slot machines to the far end of the concourse. Aurora nodded her thanks and moved away.

She reached the door of the bathrooms and went in, she placed her hand in her pocket and activated the left detonator. The air rippled as the explosives detonated, followed microseconds later by the percussive explosion, smoke, fire and screams thrummed through the buzzing in her ears. She waited a moment and looked out at the carnage she had dealt.

Body parts lay about, men and women screaming at their missing limbs, some crawling away on stumps and shattered bones, trailing bloody tracks behind them. A flood of troopers arrived from the secondary concourse and went to help, most going to the medical supplies. When she felt there were enough men and women there helping the injured, She reached into her right pocket and activated the detonator.

The second explosion rocked the concourse as it had the first, more bodies flying, more smoke, and more fire. More Death. And she had been the one to pull the triggers. Traitor.

She sighed and stepped back out. She stopped dead in her tracks when she heard the click of a gun's hammer being cocked.

"I know everyone in this camp, and I don't know you." She felt a hand reaching into her pockets, and removing the first detonator and then the second from the other pocket.

"Legion whore." She heard as she felt a sharp pain against the back of her head and blacked out.

She awoke within the cells, heavy smoke still hung in the air. Colonel Hsu and four NCR MPs stood before her, on the other side of the cell. Her head ached, and she could smell and feel blood as it trickled down her neck. Colonel Hsu looked tired and worn. Blood splatters covered his uniform and cuts on his face and arms.

"Get her out of there." He growled.

The MPs opened the cell and grabbed her roughly; Colonel Hsu looked her in the eyes as the MPs hauled her before him.

"You're going to tell me everything." He turned to his men, "Take her to be interrogated, and to hell with the POW convention!"

Hours later, Aurora sat tied to the chair, blood dripping from her nose, eyes blackened and ribs hurting. Her own people had done this to her, but she had done worse to them and now she was paying for it. She hadn't said much, as there was not much for her to say.

She'd done her job for her Master, the Collar still about her neck was proof, as were the bodies of the NCR soldiers that the few survivors were cleaning up. Colonel Hsu had enough. "Take her back to the cell, if we see tomorrow through, We'll hang her for treason. She won't get a firing squad, it's too good for her."

Aurora's heart fell, her people knew what she had done, despite her telling Colonel Hsu about the threats to her person, he didn't care, he had just lost a large amount of the troops he had left to the two bombs that she had detonated.

She was hauled back to the cells and dropped to the ground at the door. It was all she could do in her battered state to crawl her sorry ass to the sparse cot and wait her execution, or for the Legion to arrive.

She didn't care which happened first, her life was over either way. She knew Titus would kill her for being captured, and the NCR, those she swore to protect, were no longer her people.

Titus had relayed his plan to Lanius, who had given his approval, but was against the idea of waiting til sundown to storm the building. Why wait for the sun to go down when those explosions would give the Legion the element of surprise? Titus' scouts had no only rigged bombs in the fore supply crates, but all the medical supplies and food being brought into the camp was laced with cazador and radscorpion venom. The second they used a stimpak, or med-x to help the men and women the bombs had harmed, their blood would slowly start to turn to jelly.

A camp full of dead men would be easier to take, reasoned the centurion. Thought Lanius was not happy with this dishonest warfare, he reluctantly gave his blessing. He'd need not waste the lives of men when the republic would be bolstering their efforts now.

The men were all out of their tents, in both legions. The camp was quiet. They had their orders and just when the last light from the sun disappeared over the horizon, the call went out. The doors were flung open and the red sea flooded in.

Aurora lay sleeping, the soldiers hadn't bothered to feed her, traitors didn't deserve a last meal the two MPs had sneered while they ate in front of her. She slept while they died from the venom laced food. She opened her eyes at the opening of the doors and the noise of the boys in red as they cheered their victory. She sat up slowly, painfully; her muscles so stiff and sore from her beatings at the hands of the NCR MPs  
She heard nothing of the NCR retaliation, and only noticed the two dead MPs when she saw the movement of the legion soldier at the door to the cells


	20. Chapter 20

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Aurora looked up at the young soldier through swollen and bloodshot eyes. it was painful to move. "Legionary, Sir, please, my master is Centurion Titus Vulcanus." she croaked, slowly and painfully moving to the bars of the cage door.

"If you can return me to him, I'm sure you will be rewarded." she gasped as she moved, the pain in her ribs stabbing at her.

Lupe started at the beaten up woman in confusion. Who was she? Where'd she come from and why was she asking help from him? All these questions went through the young legion recruits head.

" Who are you profligate?" Lupe asked in a rather demanding tone.

Lupe stood their, waiting impatiently. He started gripping his newly founded Cowboy Reaper, one in much better condition than his old one that broke during the legions advance.

Aurora took a deep breath, "My name is Aurora Marie Cosgrove, I was a private with the NCR supply corps, until Camp Forlorn hope was captured by your forces." she stopped to wipe at a trickle of blood from her lips.

"I was given to Centurion Titus Vulcanis as a 'spoil' of war to be his personal slave." she looked at the young legionary. if she were in his shoes, she would be skeptical as well.

" Your one of the Bears troops eh?...I'm having a hard time believe your not just some spy trying to kill a high ranking legion officer" Lupe says getting somewhat angry at her mention of being a NCR trooper

Lupe's good side started kick in and he holstered his reaper on his back. He instead took out his machete and started toying with it somewhat.

"Convince me profligate slave, convince me that your not a spy and I might release you back into paradise" Lupe says, starting to smile at the look of fear coming into her eyes.

Beneath her bruises, Aurora paled. After all she had gone through at the hands of her Master, and her own people, she was now subject to this young man's desire for revenge.

"I tried to escape a few weeks back, I was caught and returned to my master," she pointed to her collar, still about he neck. "I was given this as a reminder that I am a slave." she held out her arm, showing the burn scar depicting the Slave's 'X' "And this as well, from my master's own Shishkebab." she looked to the desk where the folder with her service file and confession were located. "If you can read, over on that desk is a folder, containing information on me, and a confession that i had been involved in Legion Activities, incuding the attack on this facility."

She hoped it was enough, as she didn't relish the idea of being stuck in this hole until she either starved, or was taken to the cross

" You GAVE the profligate army information on the LEGION?" Lupe nearly screamed in rage.

Lupe walked up to the desk and picked up the folder. Too disgusted to read the folder, he simply stuck it neatly into his pack.

He then turned to the profligate and he said:

" Where are the keys to your cell?"

"They are on the body of the Soldier there." Aurora said softly, indicating to the Legion soldier the body of the nearest MP.

"And I did't willingly give them information, just like I didn't willingly give Centurion Titus Vulcanis the information that made me a traitor to my own people, thus allowing him to take Camp Golf, and take out every ranger station in the Mojave." She stepped back from the door as Lupe found the keys.

Lupe didn't even bother to say anything towards the young slave as he walked over to the Dead profligates body.

He sneered in disgust as he searched his pockets, finding nothing but a picture of a young girl. He threw the picture down spitting on it as he continued to search. After 5 minuets of searching, he found the keys, which the MP tried to hide, and he walked over to the cell.

" Are you ready to go Scum?" Lupe said as he smiled seeing her suffer.

Aurora nodded slowly,

"Yes sir." she said. she hobbled over to stand before Lupe, each step as painful as the one before. she looked at the young man's face, such hatred for her and the NCR clearly written on his youthful features.

she was back in the hands of the Legion, and sadly, they had proved kinder to her than those she had Volunteered to serve.

Aurora was hauled through the camp by two Legionaries, Lupe had been sent back to Camp McCarran to assist there.

When he had Seen Her, Titus seemed to bristle with anger, she wasn't sure if it was the way she looked, in her sorry state, or the fact that she had been captured, interrogated and had told the NCR about her actions against them.

She was brought into a tent where other Legionaries were being treated for various injuries. She was roughly placed on a bed and left there while one of the soldiers went to speak to another, somewhat familiar shadow in the darkened tent.

"Special case, Centurion Titus' Whore." the soldier said gruffly to the figure.

Titus followed into the medical tent shortly after the capture. He had skimmed over the report Lupe had stolen from the holding cells regarding her.

His face was a mix of anguish and anger. Glad for the facemask that covered that mixture up, he stood by her side. He almost reached for her hand - old habits die hard. Titus called over the nearest able bodied man - a Decanus, good, experienced - and growled at him. "Fix her." Before departing. He'd seen much worse, hell he'd inflicted much worse without batting an eyelid, but he'd never hit her like that. NCR freedoms. They'd tie you up before beating you. Cowards.

Sejanus turned, her bloody hands raised frozen at her sides in blank-faced disbelief. There -were- gods and they were mocking her. Simple as that. There could be no other explanation of how this... this thing kept crossing her path. Still, she couldn't fight the thin smile that spilt lazily across her lips as she noticed the state the girl was in.

"Not so sure dear Titus will want you like this," she purred mockingly, letting one blood-soaked finger trace the girl's battered face. "Perhaps I should do him and I a favor and put an end to your whimpering," she snapped, pinching the purple and yellow flesh that'd swollen over one eye.

She smiled as the girl tried to stifle a scream and wrench away, but her grip was sure despite the warm wetness of blood and tears. She reached for the poorly washed scalpel at her belt - tonight had seen her too busy to properly clean her tools - and raised it to the girl's face, pressing the flat of it against her skin to let her shiver at the cold metal. She chuckled at the clear terror and uncertainty in the girl's good eye before cutting the bloated bruise above the other, letting the blood drain. She tried to hide the delight she felt as the warm crimson poured over her fingers, fought the base urge to taste the cruor of the prey before her.

Aurora felt the sharp, filthy edge of the scalpel slice into her flesh, and felt the pressure drain from her swollen skin. she bit slightly on her already bloodied and swollen lip, allowing the burning pain to distract her mind from the torturous attentions of Sejanus.

It seemed like very time she came across this sadistic Legionary, she was on the wrong side of him. he seemed to have a particular hatred for women, much more than a lot of the Legionaries that she had noticed.

Often the men would grope at a passing slave girl, or some would simply drag a passing 'un-owned' slave to a quiet place to have his pleasure, but Not Sejanus, Aurora had a suspicion that Sejanus was the type of person that would be in trouble if their 'preferences' were to be discovered

Aurora winced as Sejanus moved to another part of her face and drained more of her blood with tiny, well placed cuts, she tried not to squeak, or moan in pain, as she had a feeling that Sejanus was enjoying this far too much to be a healthy thing.

She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he caused her such pain.

Such pain; such exquisite pain... etched lovingly across the girl's broken and beat features. Every little incision sent it stiffening. Sejanus found herself lost in her work, lost in every drop the creature bled. Her hand moved with fluid deftness like a violinist bowing their way through an expert concerto, every flinch writing the score to her sadistic euphony. Her eyes glinted with malicious relish as wolfish grin widened, checking the creature's face over once more before looking on to her.. to -its- wracked body.

Her fingers glided softly down the girl's side, feeling fractured ribs in several spots. Sadly none of them felt too severe, nothing worth cutting the slave open for. As the girl winced, she scowled.

"Too much pain for you, girl?" she said, squeezing on worse of her sides, feeling the already stressed ribs protest. "And here I thought you... ladies in the good old NCR were some force to be reckoned with. Not tanning many hides today are we though." She grinned as the girl's face reddened in pain and what she could only assume was anger or shame. "Now what's wrong? Is that a glimmer of shame I see? I didn't think dirt could feel shame." She straightened to her full height, letting herself lean in mere inches from the slave's face. "That's what you are, you know - dirt. That's all you've ever been and you're just now realizing it. That's the beauty of the Legion though," she said, turning back a bit to nonchalantly wipe the scalpel clean, "it can take anyone, and show them what they are, even -dirt-."

She lay the scalpel down on a nearby table, rifling through a mass of bloody rags before finding the bandaging she sought. Without warning she grabbed the girl, pulling her to the center of the tent.

"Strip," she ordered. The girl looked at her, confused. Sejanus tutted impatiently. "Do not make me repeat myself slave" she hissed. She watched in disgust as the girl began taking off her top, savoring the abject fear and humiliation playing across her face. "And the bra," she added. "I have to bind up those ribs. It'll just get in the way."

Aurora moved slowly, painfully. She winced as she pulled the top from her body and slowly removed her bra. The two most cherished objects in the world fell from the left cup as she removed the underwear. Her two pictures fluttered like leaves to the ground.

Aurora covered her breasts as best she could in the presence of the leering legion soldiers. She didn't move to pick them up, too afraid of the repercussions of pissing Sejanus off.

Sejanus arched an eyebrow as the photos fell to the ground. She stooped to grab them not breaking eye-contact once as she did, meeting the slave's humiliated terror with an icy smile. She leafed through them seeing they were of the girl at a younger age. One showed her with what she assumed to be the girl's family; the other showed what seemed to be some tribal ceremony. For the briefest moment a pang of nostalgia flitted through her at the memory of her own tribe. She shook it from her mind, remembering the task at hand as she pocketed the pictures.

"Put your hands on that pole. Over your head. Do it -now-." she spat.

She watched with grim satisfaction as the girl trembled but complied. The men about the tent jeered and laughed as tears filled her eyes and her face reddened, her shoulders wrenching in small silent sobs. She let her stand there trembling a moment before setting to work binding the girl's rib.

Sejanus had grown so accustomed to chest-binding it was a thoughtless process at this point, and as the roll wrapped over and under the slaves arms she didn't even notice how close she had gotten till she brushed up against her. Realizing her blunder too late, the decanus recoiled in horror


	21. Chapter 21

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Aurora's felt the pain double slightly as Sejanus bound her. It was nothing like the pain of the exposure of her almost naked body before the men of the Legion, their cruel laughter, catcalls and rude jeers burned her shame deep.

But when Sejanus brushed against her, his pelvis meet her side, there was something amiss, where she expected to feel what should normally be between a man's legs, was missing. She felt pelvic bone rather than the softness of a man's flesh.

She didn't look at Sejanus as he recoiled in horror. Aurora's suspicions were piqued. There was definitely something amiss with the Decanus.

All the blood had left Sejanus's face as she tried to cover her slip, fighting the trembling in every limb, the wrenching of her guts and nausea of terror. How could she have been so clumsy? Fourteen years... fourteen long years she'd served the Legion, given everything to hide who.. -what- she was. Now it could all be lost because of this... this slave. Her eyes darted quickly to the scalpel back on the table. Maybe she could.. could just.. one slip of the wrist at the girl's throat... No. She belonged to the Centurion, and Sejanus had seen the way he looked at her. Anything that obvious would be severely punished. Perhaps she could provoke the girl into attacking her. If she raised her hand against her, it would be utterly justified.

A plan was quickly hatching in Sejanus's mind as she continued her bandaging. "I saw you talking to that ear fellow when you first got here. Sexton was his name?" she sneered tightening the wrappings harshly. "You should have heard him scream as I cut off his ears. Oh - it was I who recognized who he was. I was the one who had him strung up like that. I saw to it he was well cared for - he didn't die for days." She retrieved the girl's photos, holding them in front up for her to see. "Your family, I take it," she said, lazily waving the picture of Aurora and her parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews. "Darling kids. Back west I take it?" she drawled, tucking in the end of the bandage with her free hand. "I'll see that their deaths take even -longer-."

She grabbed Aurora by the hair, forcing her to look at the other picture. "This girl," Sejanus said, waving the photo of her at her drums, "this girl is dead. You're no one, dirt. You're dead. You're dirt family? Dead. Your Republic? Well, that's dying, and a good bit of that is all thanks to -you-." Her voice was a quiet at this point, a deathly whisper as she hissed, "You've doomed everything you fought for and loved... -Dirt-." With that she flung the girl to the ground, throwing the photos in a nearby brazier.

Aurora sprawled awkwardly on the ground, her momentum causing slight scratches to her flesh as she grazed against the ground. she looked up at the brazier where her photographs burned, the chemicals that made up the pictured bubbled and blistered before the paper itself burned to ash.

She slowly sat up and reached for her discarded clothing. she slowly pulled on the top, leaving the bra off, it would be too much trouble with the bindings on her ribs to bother with anyway, so she just held onto it.

She stood unsteadily and turned to the Decanus behind her.

"At least I know what I am." she said softly.

"One day, when everything you believe in, everything you have fought for, spits on you and turns its back on you for one mistake, perhaps then you will feel one tenth of what I feel. On that day, I pray that you are able to cope as I have no other choice but to, for that day I will not feel contempt for you as you do for me, but I will pity you." Aurora moved as quickly away as she could from the Decanus and to the two Legion soldiers who had escorted her here.

"I am done here, I would return to my Master's tent please." she said to them.

The Soldiers watched her as she moved past them and then followed her back out the Medical Tent and through the encampment to Titus' Tent.

Aurora moved from the bright light of day to the dimness of the Tent that belonged to her Master. He was sitting at a table reading the folio with her Service Record, Confessions from the 'interrogation' and her Sentence to hang.

She painfully went to her knees before him, trying to hide the agony that she felt with every motion, some pains multiplied with Sejanus' ministrations.

"Master, I beg forgiveness for failing you." she said, bowing down to the ground from her kneeling position, a movement that caused the pain in her ribs to flare visibly before her eyes.

"It seems you've been punished enough for your acts. I shan't add to it," he muttered, not looking up from the service record he was pouring over. "Though now you see what your brothers are capable of, all in the name of their own dictatorship." There was less scorn and heat in his voice than usual - he sounded a lot different than the man who burned her CO alive.

Aurora rose to a sitting position before her master. "Yes, Master. I see." Aurora Rose stiffly to her feet. "How may I Serve you today?" She asked him.

"Rest. You'll be of no use until you've recovered." he said, standing. He put his helmet on his desk and took off the bandanna he had taken to wearing across his lower face. He helped her over to his bed; not her rag on the floor, and lay her down on the soft bedding. Seeing her eyes flicker up to his cheek, he raised his hand to cover the still fresh, bleeding, puckered scar reaching from the corner of his mouth almost up to his ear. "A gift from Colonel Hsu..." he muttered. Aurora & Titus

Aurora reached up and gently caressed the scarlet line with her fingertips. She sat back up in b the bed and smiled gently. "He was fond of his gifts, I received a few of my own from him. " She said, trying to hide the pain she still felt. She looked into his steel grey eyes. There was something in his gaze, a look that she had noticed before. She took his hand and held it., bringing it up to her still slightly swollen lips to kiss. "I am fortunate, to be in your service, Master." Aurora intoned. She knew now that her former life was now denied her, she was no longer the carefree soldier.

"I saw to it that I paid him in full for both our gifts." The hand she kissed gently stroked her cheek. "You're just as free now as you were before."

Aurora moved into his caress, bringing her hand up to cover his large, calloused hand, the warmth of his hand soothing the pain of her bruises. she thought for a moment, knowing that she still played a dangerous game

"Master, I wish not to offend, but I overheard a slave say that you were once of the NCR as well?"

The soft expression on his face vanished as he froze. "Which one?" he asked quietly.

"I... I don't know her name, Master, I have not gotten to know any of the other slaves." Aurora began to panic, she didn't want to cause another death, but it seemed inevitable again.

"She told me this, during the initial attack on McCarran, she was an older woman."

"You point her out to me the next time you see her." he growled. He wasn't angry with Aurora, just panicking that his past being found out would spell disaster for his work for Caesar.

"This never leaves my tent!"

Aurora nodded her agreement to her master. "Yes, Master." she said, "I understand." she took his hand. "I live to serve you, and Caesar." she affirmed to her Master and herself what she finally accepted. She was no longer NCR, she was now of Caesar's Legion of Slaves.

Titus calmed quickly. The only person who really knew about his past was Lucius, and he thought it was a good tool to use against the dissolute.

"I used to be a profligate like you," he whispered, "But I never reveled in my own debauched idea of freedom like you."

"And then you found the Legion, and became the greatest Centurion, and one day to be the greatest Legate in the service of Caesar." Aurora said, smiling from behind her bruises as she caressed his face with a strange, new affection for him.

"Essentially. Yes," he said with a smile that was uncharacteristically kind. "One day you'll realise that you're better off here than with them."

"I'm beginning to understand that, Master. I apologise for my misbehavior in the past, and I swear to you that I will serve you loyally until the day I die." Aurora pledged herself to Titus.

As much as the former NCR Soldier hated to admit, Sejanus was right, she had nothing left to live for, except perhaps to serve her master and the Legion. maybe this was a new 'dawn' for the girl named after the rising o the sun.

She wouldn't call what she felt for Titus "Love" their 'relationship' was far, far from that point. to her, it was more of an understanding between the two, though she wasn't sure of his feelings towards her, she knew he was protective of her, but was that as his property, or some fondness that he felt for her.

She leaned up and kissed him, feeling the pull on her ribs as she did so.

The kiss stung sharply as her lips touched his, but he kissed back. He'd been here before with her - this kind of 'relationship' between them. After the circumstances of their meeting, that was all it seemed it could be; a relationship of confused definition. Perhaps, in a different life, where he was still in the survey corps, and his namesake was not the god of fire, it could have been more.

Titus came in lower, aware of the pain she must have been in to raise herself. It would be impossible for him to tell himself that he only valued her as an instrument of war, now.

Aurora brought her arms around his body, pulling him closer until he was against her, feeding her own need and desire to have him the way that they had been their first time together.

This was not like the rape that she had suffered at his hands, the rough encounters when he was angry, or frustrated by some part of his planning that wouldn't work out for whatever reason or simply his sexual need for release.

This was a need on her part, a base need that despite the pain she felt, she was willing to suffer a little more for her own release.

The stress of being beaten by her own people, the loss she felt at the destruction of her cherished photographs, the inhumane treatment that Sejanus subjected her to - humiliation and unnecessary pain. all went away as they moved together upon his bed. Sharing each other's bodies, letting their cares go for a short time.

When they were spent in their lovemaking, his Armour lay upon the floor of the tent, along with her discarded clothing, she lay in his finely toned and muscled arms, a small creature safely snuggled against the brute of a man and she slept the deep sleep of emotional and physical exhaustion.


	22. Chapter 22

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As the days passed in the camp just outside the captured camp McCarran, Aurora's injuries healed, but her cracked ribs would take weeks before she could stretch without feeling a bite of pain in her side.

She would serve Titus as he wished, but often found that she would be told to leave his tent and assist the other slaves when Lanius arrived to discuss plans for taking New Vegas. She was glad to be away from the Monster of the East. Far better for her as a former NCR soldier and a Woman to not be anywhere near that brute.

She helped to move firewood and cook food, often overhearing the soldiers comment about how fortunate Titus was to have an NCR soldier to punish as his slave.

She was helping one of the other women prepare an evening meal. For Titus' men when shrill screams and cries came from one of the slave tents. Two soldiers were escorting another woman carrying a baby, one who was better dressed than the rest of the slaves.

"Fiona had her baby last night, and it looks like she tried to hide it" observed the slave beside her.

"What are they doing?" Aurora asked.

"That woman," replied the slave, "is a priestess. They take the children of slaves and raise them to be true to Caesar, to serve him as a slave or soldier depending on their gender. They never know who their parents are, no family bonds to get in the way of their loyalty."

Aurora was shocked, "That's barbaric..." she gasped

"Its the way things are here girl. You'd better get used to the idea of it. If you get pregnant to that centurion of yours you might be fortunate, he might take you as a wife, but I doubt it."

The women turned to the screams as they rose in pitch and despair, the mother ran out and tries to get her baby back, the soldiers struck her down with the butts of their rifles.

Aurora looked on sadly and hoped to hell that v she didn't get pregnant. Despite her newfound allegiance to the Legion, there was no dammed way that she would give up any child of hers to slavery. She was approached by one of Titus' men

"Slave, your master requires you." He grunted. Aurora nodded and moved back to Titus' tent

The legion had spent the last few days at McCarran, using it as a forward base from the Fort. Titus, Lanius and the other centurions had spent most of their time in Colonel Hsu's old office planning how to take Vegas. On the word of frumentarii under Inculta, they had found out that the NCR had garrisoned the Strip and Freeside in the absence of Mr House. Clever - Vegas was a big city. Naturally, Lanius had suggested a full frontal assault. He would have gone through with it if not for the pleas of the other officers. The group were struggling to think of a way to breach the city without losing the entire cohort.

On the fourth day, Titus had spoke to an older centurion - one many had little respect for due to his absence at the taking of the dam. On speaking to him, Titus had found this man was cunning even more so than himself. This man would make a good frumentarii.

Centurions Agrippa and Titus brought their plan before the Legate, hoping for his approval.

"...and then the men rise from the tunnels and purge the city!" Finished Agrippa.

"Under the cover of the boomers guns." Added Titus.

Lanius approved and sent word east to Caesar. They'd be on the move to Nellis, and then North West Vegas to get into the tunnels.

Titus' slave entered his tent the next afternoon. She looked like shit. The bruises were going down, but it was clear she was still in pain and had not slept properly for days, despite being afforded the luxury of sharing a real bed. "Ah, finally," he said as he looked up from a letter from the Fort, "We're moving."

Aurora looked at her master. She was tired and still hurting, Lack of decent sleep due to the pain was not helping and there was no way that she would be able to get a syringe of Med-X or a Stimpack in the puritan-minded Legion, especially after she had used Med-X to drug Titus in order to attempt escape. The slave collar that still adorned her neck was a tight and constant reminder of that failure.

"Yes master, I shall begin to pack." she said, bowing her head.

Aurora moved to start packing up the smaller items and place them in the crates that were stacked in the back of the tent. her years of service in the Supplies Corps had trained her well in packing for economy, space and movability, and quickly she had the smaller, unneeded items packed securely away.

She looked round for anything that she missed, her mind checking off everything that she had packed, spare blankets, bedding, clothing, smaller miscellaneous things that he kept as trophies from previous battles. she had her few extra slave belongings packed away in a small, crude rucksack next to her sleeping mat on the floor, she would carry that herself with the sleeping mat rolled up and tied to the rucksack.

She remembered first trudging into the Mojave, her kit bag heavily packed for the Mojave. it was so much different to fighting the ongoing NCR/Brotherhood war, she had never fired a shot, never taken a life, until she came to the Mojave and saved the life of her captors by killing one of her own.

The NCR-Brotherhood war was a cakewalk compared to the war with the Legion. at least the Brotherhood didn't crucify their prisoners of war, they simply didn't have any. The Brotherhood was struggling to fight for its life, just like the one here in the Mojave. and now, so was the NCR with so many of its installations destroyed and its Rangers almost gone and in disarray, tings didn't look good.

Aurora found that she didn't really care, she had snuck a peek at her Service Record when Titus was in a meeting with the other Centurions. Her Record was not exemplary , but she was still proud of her distinguished service record back home in the NCR/Brotherhood War, and her service in the Mojave was just as good for her efforts at Forlorn Hope in Supplies, Quartermaster Mayes had put her forward for a promotion, which had been approved. apparently she was to be told the next day, but the Legion had taken Forlorn Hope before the news could reach her. All that meant nothing to her now, after reading the notes on her confession and judgment,

"Private Cosgrove is hereby sentenced to hang by the neck until she is dead, her body will be then strung up from the Ranger Monument at the Mojave Outpost with a sign describing her crimes against the NCR, This sentence will be carried out at our next available date, due to a combat situation. -Colonel James Hsu, Camp McCarran Acting Commanding Officer, Mojave operations."

Aurora had sighed as she closed the folder and placed it back exactly where it had been.

She turned back to Titus once she had finished packing what she could.

"Will you be taking your evening meal soon, Master? She asked him

"Yes. It'll be a long day tomorrow." He muttered. "You should eat too. The slaves and recruits will have some serious weight to haul." He was of course referring to the guns from Nellis should they be taken from the Boomers.

He'd taken to not wearing his armor much. He hasn't seen battle in almost a week, and his new steel armour was too heavy to wear without cause. Titus looked tired and irritable, his dealings with Lanius were stressful encounters. The legate would have no issue killing a centurion should they disappoint him, and everyone knew it. Worst of all, Caesar would let him. Having to tread on eggshells was tough.

Perhaps more irritating was Caesar's choice to send a certain Frumentarii ahead of the cohort to 'butter up' the Boomers. Or remove their leadership should they prove uncooperative. Titus sighed. "...the fuckers! Couldn't they just send Vulpes."

Aurora came up behind her master and gently placed her hands on his hardened shoulders. she could feel the tension and knotted muscles. she pressed gently releasing the tension in his shoulders. She had seen her mother massage her father's shoulders and legs after a long day on the Brahmin ranch and it often seemed to relax and calm him. it was a skill she had picked up easily.

"If I may ask, master, Where are we going?" she said, gently pressing the knots from his left shoulder with deft fingers.

The centurion sank in his seat, closing his eyes as her soft hands worked over his shoulders. "We're going to Nellis with the Lanius. We want their guns and their numbers to make up the men we lost here."

Titus wished he was going to Nellis alone to collect the cannons, but he had to admit, if the Boomers had any ideas about resisting the Legion, the mere sight of Lanius should set them straight.

"The Boomers, Master?" Aurora said, pausing in her ministrations to her master's shoulders. In her time in the Mojave, she'd heard of many NCR survey and diplomatic teams being blown to bits by the artillery from Nellis. There were standing orders that no NCR soldier or citizen was to approach Nellis. "Forgive my saying so, but the Boomers are not likely to roll out the red carpet. More like they'll send out a full spread of ordinance. Many times we heard of NCR survey and diplomatic corps teams not returning from their missions to Nellis." She continued rubbing his shoulders. "If Severus' word is true, then the Boomers owe us a few favors and won't shell us on sight. If not, then..." he sighed. "Then we'll have to go through a known Deathclaw infested area to get to the gates of Nellis."

This really was the last thing they needed, but if the frumentarius could infiltrate the airfield and convince the Boomers that they should fight for the Bull, then there needn't be any bloodshed. If that wasn't possible, assassinating their leadership should prove nearly as useful.

"Now, get me some food!" Titus snapped. It'd be a long walk tomorrow.

Aurora backed away from Titus, "Yes, Master, at once." Aurora affirmed his order for food and quickly went and collected a meal of brahmin steak and boiled vegetables. She set his plate down in front of him and left to get her own bowl of food from the slave's cook fires. She settled on her sleeping mat and quickly ate her meagre fare. She waited for him to finish and collected his dishes. When she returned she turned down his bed and prepared his Bath. "It's there anything else; Master?" She asked him. "Nothing for tonight."

He undressed himself and lowered into the bath, the hot water soothing him. After some time in silence, washing himself, he stood, let her dry him off and then lay in bed, staring up at the canvas. Titus was anxious about what tomorrow would bring, and preemptively frustrated about having to cross paths with Severus again - that bloody viper.


	23. Chapter 23

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When morning came, he'd set Aurora to work on sharpening his shishkebab after dressing him in his armor. The cohort was to be split - three quarters headed to NW Vegas to prepare to go into the tunnels, the rest, under Titus and Lanius would head to Nellis and hopefully Severus had made sure the Boomers wouldn't open fire.

The walk took hours but finally the smaller detachment broke of from the main cohort and stopped at the edge of the howitzers' range.

From the baggage van with the rest of the slaves Aurora looked out to the hill where the road lead to Boomer's territory. She saw the array of soldiers in formation. Anyone watching from a vantage point from Nellis would be assuming that there was an invasion afoot. They would not be far wrong. She worried for Titus, as much as she hated to admit it. She feared Lanius would order his death either by ordering Titus to advance and the Boomers firing upon him or by ordering his execution for failing the Legate in some small way. Even the slaves were on edge. The feeling was one of foreboding. Aurora took a deep breath and located Titus. He stood resplendent in his new armour. She subconsciously bit at her lower lip in a show of nerves, she caught herself and released her lip, the flesh showing white for a second before the blood returned to her lip. She turned to the other slaves that belonged to Titus' century and shook her head. Many of them seemed to look up to her now as his personal slave being in charge of the setting up of the masters personal camp. She knew that if they were going to be able to take the weapons from the Boomers, there would be no real need for a camp to be set up. Their detachment stood at the border to wrecked town that once existed south of the base. Severus was a capable frumentarius, but they had no way of being sure the Boomers had gone for his honeyed words. They were notoriously xenophobic. The Legion had only one way to be sure of the Boomers willingness to cooperate.

Even Lanius knew it would be foolish to walk straight into the shells. So instead they used the tried and tested method that was normally for clearing an area of landmines. Let the slaves head in first.

Lanius gave the order...

Aurora and the rest of the slaves were herded through the lines of soldiers. Her heartbeat thundered through her ears, the fear of every slave multiplied with each step they took that brought them closer to the field of death. Aurora stared ahead as she walked past Lanius and Titus, head and shoulders back, if she was going to die today, she would die with dignity. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm as they were stopped by a Decanus.

"You will March through this field and await the rest of the cohort once you reach the gate. If the Boomers fire, and you die, it is for the Glory of Caesar that you do so. Move out!"

The body of slaves stepped out in unison, scared shuffles, only Aurora stepped properly. Her mind going through her NCR ordinance training, she checked the distance of the massive howitzers,

'If it goes boom... ten, maybe fifteen seconds of air time before the ordinance hits.' She thought to herself. 'Depending on wind, lucky to clear the hit zone before they can reload, our fastest time was twelve seconds reload and prime at best practice at the dam before we lost it, Fuck me that doesn't give much time to get first of blast zone. The group passed a wrecked and twisted corvega. She heard the first soft boom in the distance... S-h-i-t

"Run!" She screamed and dashed forward, the other slaves screamed in fear, some broke and ran back to the lines, others scattered across the field. Aurora ran forwards, ten...nine...eight... She counted in her mind by the time she got to 'one' then plus one she heard the second howitzer fire, she was only past the third row of houses and nearing the mortar ruined crossroads as the first explosion rocked the ground.

She stumbled and fell, her natural dancer's grace saving her from sprawling to the ground, she knew she would have less time the closer she got to the gate. She heard a scream , another slave also fell and badly twisted her ankle. Aurora hadn't realised that there were three others with her.

"Keep up with me!" She yelled at them as she pushed herself up with fluidic grace. Her ribs screamed in agony, the pain from the healing cracked ribs flaring up again. She ran on hearing a third boom, and knowing the second mortar was just seconds away. Her heart hammered through her chest and into her ears. She took a deep breath and sprinted towards the gates. They were not far now. Behind her where she had been mere seconds before, the ground erupted, taking another slave to her death. Aurora pressed on with the last two slaves, passing a sign welcoming them to Nellis air force base. The third impact threw all three women to the ground and they rolled down the inclined Road to stop at the gates of Nellis.

Aurora coughed dust from the shelling and opened her eyes. She looked up at the gates and the battered and pale faces of the other slaves who had made it to the gates and three laughed in relief. They had done as ordered and survived the Boomers firing range in the process.

Titus felt silent at Lanius' command. His face fell, gladly behind the bandana he wore. The centurion would have protested, but this was the Legate. His eyes followed Aurora duck and dive, bob and weave through the shattered remains of the town outside Nellis. His heart was in his mouth until the second she was out of range of the guns.

It seems Severus was not able to convince the Boomers to make peace with their inevitable fate, so it fell to the Legion to take them by force. Lanius turned to the men and began to march them the short distance east so they could go through the train tunnel and come out right by the fence. He wasn't afraid of the Deathclaws. Titus lingering in his position as long as he could, watching the survivors lined up by the gate, the Boomers approaching them by foot. This had to be quick.

When Titus had finally turned away from who he half considered to be his ward, he saw Lanius and his men butchering the last of those mutant chameleons Into the tunnel they went.

The three girls laughed with relief as they rested against the chian-link fence near the gates to Nellis.

The adrenaline began to wear off, and the little aches, and pains from their dash of insanity began to show. Aurora's side felt like it was on fire, beside her one of the girls began to shake and sob, Aurora too found she was trembling a little from the events. Her nerves were shaken, and. her ears rang a little from the noise of the explosions that had announced their mad arrival into Boomer Territory. she held onto the younger girl as she shook and wept with the shock of their experience, she gently caressed the girl's hair and tried to calm her. The other slave looked up and noticed that there were several Boomers approaching slowly on foot, their weapons drawn and aimed at the women.

She tugged frantically on Aurora's torn and tattered slave dress and Aurora turned from calming the other crying slave to look at the new threat. She repositioned herself between the other girls and the boomers, her hands out to her sides,, an unmistakably protective pose, She stepped back, pushing the two slaves back towards the welcome sign and an old pre-war police car that had been parked close enough that the bombardments hadn't destroyed it. She didn't want anyone to hurt the two women that she had gone through so much in such a short span of seconds with.

"Don't move, hold it right there!" shouted one of the Boomers as he held his weapon steady on the three slaves. A great shout arose from nearby, the Boomers turned as one as the sea of Legion soldiers washed through from the train tunnel. The Slaves were forgotten as the Boomers rushed to defend Nellis.

Aurora slowly relaxed her defensive pose, while the two women behind her continued to cower. they had been in the service of the Legion for a long tome, and didn't know any other life, strangers frightened them and it was only when Aurora finally sat and chatted with them around the slave's camp fires one evening while Titus was planning with the Legate and the other centurions, did they finally get to trust her a little.

The women watched as the Legion went and surrounded the men and women from Nellis. Aurora watched as the Boomers raised their weapons and waited for their orders.

"Get behind the Car, these old police vehicles are armored." she said, herding the two girls back around the old vehicle, they crouched down and Aurora watched the scence before her unfold


	24. Chapter 24

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The centurion's mind was fixed on that girl as he raced through the tunnels. He ran along with the front of the recruits, his behaviour not fitting for a Centurion of Caesar's Legion. Titus cursed her under his breath as he ran. As the men reached the exit of the tunnel, the centurion drew Gehenna and threw his sword arm forward. The sea of red and black poured into the base, thermic lances melted the fence away, and with Titus as their head, the legion cut through the Boomers before they had time to unload their ordnance. Boomer corpses littered the gates. Titus turned to see the surviving slave girls, and with a sigh of relief sent his men further into the airfield. They would root out every last degenerate in this sh!t hole - the women would be raped and butchered, the children enslaved and the men flayed alive, nailed to a cross then set alight. Titus would set an example that even Lanius found excessive.

Aurora watched the butchery unfold, there was no other word for it.

These people were just trying to live, to survive in a world gone mad, but for the desire of one man, who wanted nothing more than to have his "Rome" their names would be as dust, their home desecrated, their memories wiped from the face of the Mojave.

She watched as Titus, who seemed most fervent in the slaughter in the airfield cut down more than his fair share of Boomers. He was truly terrifying to behold as blood splattered around him from cut skin, from the very weapon that she had sharpened for him the night before. again, she felt a guilty responsibility for the death that was being dealt by him,

His Armour bloodied as he danced his deadly ballet, magnificent in his form, the dancer within her could appreciate his movements, the human within recoiled in horror at his actions and the bloody scene that he cut before him.

"How can you serve a man like that?" asked one of the slaves beside her, "He is so brutal, his actions scare me worse than the mere mention of Lanius."

"I serve him, because he is my Master. It is my duty to do what he asks of me without question." Aurora spoke, "You would be very wise to keep your words and thoughts to yourself." she said, defending him. She surprised herself, weeks ago, she would have given anything to be free, she had even tried to escape, All that earned her was more guilt, an everlasting scar, and a goddamned slave collar that was so tight around her neck that it pained her to swallow.

She had caused the deaths of her own fellow soldiers on his orders, She had betrayed her own and been branded traitor. She was responsible for so much loss, so much pain, and so much devastation, yet she found that she had done it willingly, she could have refused, more than likely she would be dead, or on the way to being dead, lashed and nailed to a cross. but she had taken a cowards route and sided with the enemy, her survival, her own life, far more important to her than those of her former comrades.

Camp Golf, Camp McCarran. and now, the Boomers, it was obvious that they cared for their people, as the defense was greatest at one of the barracks. when the greater majority of the defenders were dead, dying, wounded or captured, A group of Legionaries entered the barracks and took out several children.

There were still pockets of resistance which were quickly being subdued when a group of Legionaries came to retrieve the slaves.

"You, come with us, you are to assist in moving the guns." Aurora arose with the other women.

"Yes, sir," she said softly, they followed the men into the killing field where bodies of Boomers lay in their flight jackets and Vault-tec issued suits in pools of crimson lifeblood and headed towards the massive Howitzers.

After painting the ground red, and leaving most of his men to round up the survivors, a group of prime legionaries brought him the leaders of the base. Evidently, Severus had failed to do his job. Before the centurion stood a young woman clad in combat armor, an old man and an old woman. By the looks of them, they didn't fear the legion at all. They should.

He had them marched over to the front fence of Nellis. Titus sent some men over to the medical hut to get all the stimpaks they could carry and bring them back here. Then, without any warning, he plunged his sword, unlit, into Pearl's stomach. He removed the crude length of metal before shoving his hand into the puncture and pulling out a length of her intestine. At this point, she fell to the ground, barely breathing but silent. Then men came back with the medical supplies and Titus jammed a pair of stimpaks beside the gash he had just created. Pulling the entrails into a line, he wrapped them around her neck, looped the remaining length over the top of the fence, and tied a knot in the railing - hanging her by her own entrails, using stimpaks to keep her alive as long as possible. Following his lead, but with some degree of repulsion, the legionaries did the same to Raquel and Loyal.

Aurora and the other survivors of the mad dash to boomer territory pushed hard against the Howitzers, moving them inch by inch with other Legion recruits who were bloodied from their battles. The stench of blood, sweat, gunpowder and hot metal prominent in their atmosphere. Beside her, one of the slaves who had run with her looked up she paled and gagged at what she saw. She put her head down and breathed heavily. Aurora looked at her from her position, her arms up over her head, back straight, hands on warm metal and legs pushing the massive gun. The slave looked at Aurora with a mixture of pity and contempt.

"And you say it's your duty to Serve him, he will turn out like Lanius, who strikes all his slaves blind. What if he fails Caesar? You will be either sold or crucified, more likely the latter. That's what they did to the Burned Man's slaves. They crucified them to the last." Aurora looked over to where Titus stood, watching the leaders of the Boomers strangling on their own intestinal tracts. She felt the bile creeping up her oesophagus, she swallowed several times, how strange that she would not get squeamish when they slaughtered a Brahmin for food, but to witness this would almost make her lose her lunch. She lowered her head and pushed on past Titus and his gruesome display. That Old friend Fear had returned to visit.

Titus was instructing a few his men to stay behind and administer med-x and stimpaks whenever the three hanged bastards looked close to death. If they passed out, a dose of psycho should bring them back. "There's a promotion in this for you if they're alive when we get back." Their 'nooses' weren't tight, they could just about breath, but the pain must have been excruciating. The rest of the survivors were tied up in the hangar, ready to be taken back to the Fort or New Rome as slaves once the assault was complete.

The rest of the men departed, helping the slaves haul the heavy guns faster. Titus caught up with the rest of the men and walked in the middle of the guns being dragged across the ground spattered craters, a few yards from Aurora. His armor flashed red in the Mojave sun, dripping with fresh blood. After that display, he was already planning what he would do to desecrate the name of the NCR in Vegas.

Ised sat at the edge of the dusty old bar in the lucky 38, she did some convincing and Mr. House let her stay there so long as no one else would be accompanying her. Ever.  
In front of her was more then just a few empty bottles of booze. "S-shit...I finished...that alll In just two days...am I even alive..." Her voice was very slurred and almost impossible to understand. "Do...do I have a liver still.." She looked down at her side wondering about the condition of her liver, she figured it wasn't anything a few stimpaks couldn't heal.

Figuring it was to quiet she glanced over at the stereo and then at her makeshift leg on the bar counter. " 'ere goes nothin'." She pulled the leg off the table and sloppily fastened it to her leg; it would probably fall off within minutes of her wearing it but the alcohol in her system caused her not to care in the least.  
She leaned on every surface possible and made her way to the stereo that sat collecting dust at the end of the room. Ised pushed every button till one made music come out of the speakers. "Eh...never was fond of this prewar..stuff..but sound is sound...now l-lets make it louder." She turned the dial till the outside residents of Vegas could hear it.

The heat of the Mojave sun and the strain of the effort of pushing the heavy howitzer was taking its toll on the exhausted Slaves. Aurora's body was drenched in sweat, she blinked to clear the beads of salty water from her eyes while the girls beside her panted with the strain. the younger one stumbled and fell, Aurora's arm shot out and helped her back to her feet while she continued to push,

"Don't fall, or you'll never get up." she huffed.


	25. Chapter 25

.com Fun and Fallout related stuff! Rp in the Fallout world

It took them over three hours of heavy pushing in the mighty heat of the Mojave sun to get the Howitzers to their location, they stopped only once to take a small amount of water, The Legionaries took a larger ration than the tired slaves. Aurora herself took a cup of Water to Titus, before she took a small drink from the ladle that was passed out from a bucket amongst the slaves and returned to her position at the Howitzer.

The men moved quickly around the machines of destruction when they were finally in position, others brought up the ordinance from Nellis' storage.

Aurora and the other women moved back from the Howitzers and watched, "Prepare to cover your ears." Aurora advised the girls quietly. She watched as Titus in all his bloody, gore-splattered splendor supervised the positioning of the guns. the soldiers loaded the ammunition.

Aurora and the other two slave girls stood together and waited for the first barrage to begin.

The veterans manned the guns, They lined up, very few of the men having used the howitzer back at the Fort. The Lucky 38 would remain standing - for Caesar - but the Gomorrah would be rubble as soon as time permitted. That house of debauchery and those vile Omertas needed to be the first to taste the Legion's new arsenal. Half the line of guns aimed at the top of the casino, aiming to shear the roof off then rain fire in through the hole, while the other half aimed at the nearest gate. The first volley would signal the rest of the cohort to rise from the tunnels. The second would allow the men from this side who weren't on the guns to breach Freeside.

The Legate was standing at the front of the group. Lanius drew his Blade Of The East and raised it. He looked at Titus through those cold black eyes of his mask, then threw his sword arm forward. The almighty boom from the line of guns sent a rush a air over the group, bringing with it sand and dust that clawed at the eyes and tore at the lungs. The wall to Freeside was shattered, and the upper half of the Gomorrah no more.

On the Legate's call, the legionaries rushed in.

Just as Ised began to turn around and stumble back to the bar the ground beneath her shook violently, never a good sign in New Vegas. "H-holy s-s-shit." Ised screamed terrified by what was going on outside. "Better turn this off!." She slammed her hand down onto the power button and the Lucky 38 became quiet other then the Securatrons leaving the building. "W-wheres my bag..." Ised was drunk as all hell but she wasn't stupid, she sat for a moment and tied her prosthetic leg as well and as tight as she could before grabbing her bag on the table. She rummaged through it before she found her last dose of Psycho and injected herself with it to get her self to wake up a bit. "

Before leaving the bar and it's safety she grabbed a almost broken shot gun off the shelf and loaded it with some bullets. Creeping over to the door Ised peeked through the small tinted window on the lucky 38's large front doors. She saw people running everywhere, large guns, and Caesar's men. "NOPE NOPE NOPE." She ducked down hoping no one saw her and ran for cover. Ised was a woman, drug addict, and and alcoholic three things the Legion didn't like.

Aurora knew the firing drill from her time in the NCR. Plug your ears with your fingers, turn away and crouch. as she assumed the position, the other slave girls followed her example, they wouldn't have the tell tale ringing of Tinitis in their ears that the Legionaries would suffer for years to come from being near such a loud noise assaulting them.

The dust clouds billowed over the girls and men alike, covering them with the Mojave dust. Aurora coughed the fine sand particles from her throat and opened her eyes to see the destruction wrought from the first volley. the top of the Gomorrah casino was rubble and dust, she kept her fingers plugging her ears as the next volley was fired. the noise was still terrific, but at least it was dulled a little. she turned away from the second cloud of dust, feeling another layer of it caking her sweat-damp body, she screwed her eyes shut and held her breath as the dust settled around her.

when she opened her eyes and took her fingers from her ears, she saw the men of the Legion, that crimson Sea of death and destruction wash through the shattered gates of Freeside, Her eyes moved to Titus, a bloodied figure standing near Lanius, there was a strange admiration for him, he was a warrior, but a brutal one.

All she could do now was watch as New Vegas changed hands in a bloody transaction.

There was no time for rounding up slaves. This city was huge, so they would leave rounding up captures until after every single uniform within the walls was drenched in blood. Legionaries rushed in through the breach, legionaries rose up from the tunnels. Going through the hole in the wall meant certain death, and the men in red where coming out by the only other exit. There was no escape.

Fire rained down from the skies, setting the Gomorrah ablaze - the burning figures of hookers and gamblers writhing in the wreckage. That was where the crucifixes would go.

The legionaries were racing through the streets, butchering any civilians who fought back, but they hadn't counted on the resistance they met the closer they got to the NCR embassy.

Troopers beyond number, Heavy troopers clad in steel armour, even ranger who were presumed wiped from the desert. The legion had to stop their advance as they reached that block of Vegas. No amount of numbers would breach that firing line. Any idiot recruit who thought otherwise was shredded to pieces by the LMGs set up at the end of the road.

Aurora stood and looked at the carnage that the Legion had wrought in Freeside, while in the distance, she could still her the fighting between the dwindling forces of the NCR and the Legion, residents and NCR soldiers both lay about in various death poses.

She really didn't want to be here doing this, but once again, the Red 'X' on her slave rags had brought her to work for the Legion, rather than directly serving her Master, Centurion Titus Vulcanis, who was busy overseeing the taking of the Strip with the Legate.

She moved on her orders to help clear the NCR corpses to a pile in the middle of Freeside. She and one of the other girls struggled as they dragged the heavy corpse of an NCR private to add to the pile.

Gunshots rang out as Two NCR soldiers ran from their cover only to fall dead with two shots to their heads. The Legion soldiers looked at the fallen NCR soldiers, confused, and they aimed their weapons to the building from which the gunshots had emanated and fired, not wanting to take a chance that the shooter might pick them as their next targets.

A cry of pain was heard, and a figure fell from a broken second floor window into the alley below. One of the Recruits turned to Aurora,

"You, Slave." He gruffly said to her, "Go and see if they are still alive, and if they are dead, leave it and drag the NCR corpses over here." Aurora nodded, once again wishing that she was somewhere else, anywhere other than here, dragging the dead to piles.

She approached the alley with some trepidation, not sure if the person would shoot her on sight if they were alive, or if they were truly dead. She found the body of a young woman, lying on her side, face contorted in pain and blood seeping from a wound in her shoulder, at least one of the Legionaries' bullets had found its target.

"Don't shoot, I'm unarmed." She pleaded softly. The looked at the state the woman was in, she knew that the Legion would enslave her, but she wanted to help her somehow, in all the horrible things that she had been forced to do; she wanted to help someone, to feel that glow of good through her, to know that she made a difference in one person's life. She knew it wouldn't undo all the bad karma, but a little good karma was always helpful.

Ameritus had trailed the Legion for days. She knew that if she could only find out what their goals were, she could assist them and help to further the cause of the Legion. Where there was Legion, there was usually NCR. She finally had to admit defeat after months of futility and decided to use her situation to her best advantage. She had an easy in with the NCR, and could use their foolish sympathy against them. Her mentor had trained her to hide herself from her enemy in plain sight. She knew she would gain the NCR's sympathy when she explained that she was the sole survivor of the Nipton 'atrocities'. They took her in, as expected, never guessing that she was really there to undermine their every move and work against them. She longed for the kill. It was too hard to make a move against the NCR, whilst within their ranks, pretending to be an agent of the people she despised. She was finally sent to the Strip as dispatch to the Ambassador, where she could at last gain some opportunity to work against them.

She had been at the Vegas Strip for months running errands for the NCR who considered her an ally. She was like an eager puppy, making herself useful where she could, always volunteering for more. Eventually, she knew she would find a way to sabotage their goals. When she saw the Legion approaching today, she knew that day had finally come. Moving with great stealth, slowly, so as not to draw any attention to herself, she maneuvered to a ruined building and took a perch on the second story where she could snipe at unsuspecting NCR unnoticed. The battle was far bloodier than she had expected and it's duration far shorter. Ameritus sighed in frustration as kill after kill had to be relinquished to a Legion soldier for fear that the drop would draw attention to her location. She knew that she must stay hidden from the Legion at all costs, or else end up a slave, unable to practice her skills and savor the thrill of vengeance with each successive kill. Her life had become too much about the kill, and her stint with the NCR Ambassador had been boring and uneventful. Now, with the sweet taste of death in battle, she was forced to restrain herself against the enemy, and it was more than she could bear.

It wasn't until the battle was over and Legion slaves, dressed in rags, began clearing the dead bodies, (how could they stand to simply clean when others got the honor of killing?) that she noticed two NCR soldiers move into a stealth position. It looked like they were primed to take out the Centurion himself. She knew she had to act, even if it would draw attention to herself. She could always activate the stealth suit if they came too close. She could not allow a powerful figure in the Legion to be brought down by an ambush!

She waited for an opening and took her shots, two bullets, one for each of the Profligates, who fired their service rifles as they died. She had only a moment to savor the satisfaction that spread through her before the Legionaries, confused by the shooting, turned and shot in her direction. She felt a new warmth spread through her as the bullets found their target. She tumbled from her perch and landed hard on the ground, realizing that she would die once they approached, never knowing she was an ally. It wasn't a soldier, though, who eventually approached her, but one of the slaves she had noticed with disgust before. The rag-clad figure approached slowly on bare feet. When she noticed Ameritus was still alive, fear flashed through her face.

"Don't hurt me, I'm unarmed" she said in a soft voice, barely above a whisper.


	26. Chapter 26

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They looked at one another, sizing eachother up. Ameritus clenched her jaw and closed her eyes, waiting for the slave to alert the soldiers to the fact that she was still breathing. The call never came. Crouching low, the slave pretended to search the "dead body" while whispering, "Don't move or make a sound. I can help you." Surprise flashed in Ameritus' eyes and she took in the slave's appearance for the first time. She was largely unremarkable, soft brown hair and brown eyes, but there was a hidden fire in those eyes that led her to believe this woman hadn't been completely broken. Unlike the other slaves, she still wore a collar around her neck and had a vicious burn scar on her left arm, possibly due to a failed escape attempt.

The two sized eachother up, judging whether the other could be trusted. The slave spoke first, "Why did you fire on the NCR?"

"Because they are my enemy and I serve the Legion," spoke Ameritus with barely concealed contempt. The slave took a moment to digest this and offered to call her Master over to offer aid.

"No!" growled Ameritus under her breath through clenched teeth, making the slave jump back at the ferocity. "I cannot be taken by the Legion!"

The slaved wondered at this conflicting statement and asked, "If you serve the Legion, why would you not wish their aid?"

Ameritus growled her response with disdain, "Do you really think I want to end up like you?"

Understanding flashed through the slave's eyes. "I haven't always been what you see now. I tried to escape! I..."

"Tried? I would rather die than be a whelp in rags, too meek and humble to raise an objection to poor treatment! I would rather die than get handed around. How can you meekly accept your position as a dog to the Legion, when you could be serving them against their enemy?"

Hurt flashed in the slave's eyes, a brief rekindling of an old fire, then faded as she spoke softly again. "Listen, we don't have time for this, do you want my help or not? It comes with a price."

Ameritus needed no time considering, the alternative wasn't palatable. "What do you want?"

I will help you escape this, and I can help you further your goals of helping the Legion, if you'll do but one thing for me. All I ask is that you take a message to my grandmother's tribe, the Wind Dancers, and let her know I'm alright."

"Agreed," Ameritus growled between clenched teeth, gritted by pain.

"I'll use this Stimpak on you, when I begin dragging the NCR bodies over to the pile, you can make your escape. They wont be looking over here. Find the trader Miles O' Walkin. He's friendly to the Legion and keeps us supplied at Camp Golf. He will faithfully get a message to me, and I can send messages to you through him"

The slave jabbed the Stimpak into Ameritus' leg and then slowly began to drag an NCR body to the pile some ways' off. When Ameritus saw her chance, she slipped off, not drawing any notice from the soldiers.

Aurora hauled the body of the first NCR soldier over to the pile of NCR bodies, her arms were covered in the blood of the dead, her slave dress was similarly covered in patches. she felt dirty, tired, and emotionally wrecked, she didn't know if she could trust that woman she just helped, but she had a good feeling in her gut about her. she turned around and walked back over to the other body, surreptitiously peeking down the alley to see that the woman had disappeared.

She heaved a sigh, the skin under her collar itched horribly, dust, sweat and some blood from the vanquished that she had accidentally put there while trying to scratch that itch, continued to bother her. she picked up the NCR soldier under the arms, Rigor mortis hadn't set in yet, and his body was heavy, even for a dead weight.

Aurora hauled his dead arse backwards towards the pile and finally, with the aid of one of the other slaves, managed to get it up onto the top of the pile. she heaved a sigh, this was dirty, hot and unsatisfying work. she looked over to where the guards were standing, they watched as the slaves worked, drinking water from cups, the bastards.

Aurora rubbed at her nose, taking care of another itch that was caused by her sweat, smearing the blood of the dead across her face. she could smell its iron scent. she was covered in it. the stench of the dead, fecal matter, blood, stomach contents, urine, and sweat all were made worse by the heat of the day. Aurora ignored it as best she could, but her exhaustion for the days events were beginning to wear on her and the other slaves. she hoped for a good rest, and to be able to wash away the days dust, sweat and blood, but knew that the day was still not done until Vegas was taken fully.

She turned back to another section that was to be cleared of NCR corpses, there had been a good sized fighting force here, but nothing compared to what was defending the New Vegas strip. by the time they had finished the NCR pile, and begun the Civilian pile, Aurora was almost asleep on her feet.

It seemed the NCR were not going to let the Legion advance past that block and into the rest of the city. The Legion's officers knew now was the worst time to have to wait them out like at Camp McCarran, but they had no way of breaching that line. Every alternative line of approach was walled off or rubble. The only visible option was to clash head on. Titus knew this. Lanius reveled in it. He loved Caesar, but shared no love for his Legion - he would be happy losing a million men so long as the Bear lost more. Every victory should be honest; purchased with blood.

Titus was less than pleased. After his recent conquests, most of his recruits were now Prime or Veteran, and he would not see HIS men, or their talent wasted. The centuria he worked so hard to build would not be the first into the fray. He approach the recruits of the centuria closest the path to the NCR's line. As head of the cohort, he could give these men orders.

Within a few minutes, the lowliest recruits of that centuria was armed to the teeth with grenades of all sorts, horded from NCR bodies. Those troopers were in for a surprise when they gunned these fine young men down.

Stepping back to his post, Titus left the rest in Mars' hand.

Lanius gave the order: the recruits charged.

Aurora and the other slaves had finished the piling of the bodies, both NCR and Civilian, she sat upon the ground, dusty, dirty and bloody, as were the other slaves. she rested her head on her arms, which in turn rested on her knees, she dozed exhausted in the waning afternoon sunshine.

She was jolted awake by a bucket of cold water being thrown over her and the harsh laughter of the soldiers, the other slaves were treated similarly to a cold shower.

"Get up, you lazy whores." snarled the Decanus who held one of the buckets as his men behind him laughed at the women who now looked like dirt and blood streaked drowned rats,

"The battle is almost over and we are victorious, you will be needed to clear more bodies before our Lord Caesar arrives to claim New Rome." Aurora arose, dripping dirty and bloody water from her face and body. the chill of the water was evident on certain parts of her body, and gooseflesh covered her still dirty arms.

The women were escorted through the gates to the Strip. the stench of burning flesh assaulted her nose again. Gomorrah still burned from the Howitzer's volleys. the forms of burned men and women were seen clearly in the ruins. The Lucky 38 stood to her left, that indomitable symbol of New Vegas, now about to be entered by the men of the Legion. beyond the next gate, which had been torn from its rollers, small pockets of NCR soldiers were still fighting, while others were surrendering, but were given no quarter. Legion soldiers ran about, taking captures, and taking them through to Freeside's Old Mormon Fort for keeping until they were ready to be processed.

Aurora looked around at the bodies of men and women,NCR, Civilians, gamblers, hookers, and people who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. She looked down at the road, where the burned body of a young woman, a whore of Gomorrah lay sprawled before her. she was visited by the unwelcome memory of Major Polatli, when Titus had burned him in front of the captured NCR soldiers and his own men at the Fort.

She took a deep breath through her mouth, trying to keep the stench of burned flesh, death and destruction from her nose, but it didn't work, she smelled and tasted war, and it was not pleasant.

She was shoved roughly by a Prime in the direction of some dead NCR soldiers. there were faces twisted in death there that she recognised, people she had marched with when she had arrived in the Mojave. She quietly mourned their loss, despite her newfound dislike of the NCR, but these people, Kids really, for some had not even hit their twenties, didn't deserve to die fighting for Vegas, they should have been defending their own home, not someone else's.

Aurora took the legs of a young female soldier, while one of the other slaves took the girl's arms, and they began to move the bodies to a pile out of the way.


	27. Chapter 27

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Around the NCR Embassy, the last of the NCR soldier's died, and the cheer of victory resounded and echoed thorough the strip.

They'd anticipated loses, but not like this - not all in one block of the city.

The fear of those recruits chosen for the primary charge was evident; scrawled across all their faces. These young men, some barely older than boys, had been told to lay down their lives in the heat of battle, having no way to escape from the fate that had just been assigned to them. And thought they were scared, they knew that had to. If they died purging the dissolute from Rome, then they died a good death.

A cacophonous thunder of explosions, gunfire and screamed broke the evening drew in. The red army poured in through the gate, recruits first, flailing their arms, clutching grenades white knuckled. Machine gun rounds tore through the Legion advance, ripped men apart, leaving red mist where once there was a person. Half the recruits were cut down at the halfway point between them and their target. The NCR were obviously shocked by this outrageous tactic - to charge the enemy head on at a choke point?! The Legion's number were overwhelming. For once the Republicans didn't have that advantage at their disposal. Wave after wave of the men clad in red came through the gates, and when it was time for the gunners at the rear to reload, that was when the bangs started.

Fallen legionaries in a last ditch effort for put an end to the NCR barricade, lobbed their precious ordnance into the the Republic's line.

It only took a few moments, but the NCR in Vegas were broken. Their resistance lay in pieces, literally, strewn across the Strips main road. Body pieces far from the rest of their owners. Unfortunately, most of those bodies were wearing red...

Lanius looked on, emotionless, his face as still as the mask he wore. He simply walked forward, into his surviving men, calling them forward to take what remained of the city in the name of Caesar. With one final look back at Titus, he pointed to the top of the Lucky 38 - we should claim that for Caesar.

For all the stoicism the man could muster, Titus was shaken. He'd never seen so many of his men die in front of him. His campaign so far had been so easy in comparison. At least now he had an easier task. There was no way that the NCR would be able to build opposition inside the casino.

He and the remainder of his centuria lined up outside the main doors. When they'd all caught themselves, loaded their weapons and readied their blades, Titus' new Decanus, Lupe, lead the survivors into the dark interior.

Aurora held the shaking slave girl's hair back as she puked against the fence, she coughed and shuddered, her stomach heaving and retching. it had been a horrendous day for the women, Running the gauntlet to Boomer's Territory, witnessing the leaders of the Boomers being hung by their own entrails, moving the Howitzers to a position to attack Vegas in the extreme heat of the Mojave wasteland and finally, after dealing with the noise of those weapons of destruction. moving the bloodied and dismembered corpses into piles.

They were all at the end of their 'second' wind of exhaustion, the girl's vomiting and shaking form was almost ready to collapse, Aurora supported her when she had finished retching, her stomach only bringing up clear bile now. they were in a small area beside Gomorrah, the smoke from the place not helping with the girl's upset stomach, the tench of burned men and women stuck to their clothes and hair, permeated their skin and made them both feel ill, but Aurora had managed to keep her stomach settled.

Black streaks of smoke now joined the blood, sweat and dirt that covered her skin, hair and Slave dress, which was even more ragged than it had been at the start of the day. there was a large tear in the back of the dress, leading to one of the shoulders, and it was constantly falling down her arm, revealing, in her opinion, a little too much of her chest to be 'modest'.

The 'shower' that she and the other girls had been treated to by the Soldiers back in Freeside had really been pointless, for they were just as filthy, if not more so now than when they had been before.

Aurora and the other slave girls were now set to finish the NCR body-moving, the ground was littered with bodies... or rather body parts, most of them had scraps of crimson armour or cloth, rather than the khaki of an NCR uniform. As she picked up the legs of an NCR soldier, detached from the body, nhe noticed Titus moving through towards the Lucky 38 with a group of his soldiers. his shoulders were slumped slightly, the body language of her master spoke volumes to her, he had lost a lot of men and it hit him hard.

She paused a moment to contemplate her Master's emotions, he cared for his men, unlike Lanius, who would throw them around like a careless child would throw a toy car or a teddy bear in a fit of anger.

she watched as the Soldiers entered the Lucky 38, anyone who was in there hiding, would not be feeling so lucky soon.

Ised could vaguely see the Group of men lining up in front of the large set of doors through the dusty-tinted windows, Her heart nearly burst out of her chest in fear. Reaching for her bag and pulled out another dose of Psycho and drove the needle into her skin feeling the effects of the intensified Adrenaline run through her veins. "T-two doeses...I-I'll be fine...Maybe make it through the first few without g-getting too hu-" A loud creak rang through her ears and she turned to see the doors of the lucky 38 beginning to open. "Nope, to drunk, can't do this.." Ised felt an unexplainable rush of fear and leapt to take cover behind the bar and lost her leg in the process.

She peered over the counter ever-so-slightly and saw her leg lay off center on the casino floor. "Y-you've gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me..." Ised thought to herself as she slumped back down behind the bar now totally defenseless.

The doors of the lucky 38 now wide open Ised could hear the men marching in along with the loud chaos that still went on outside. "Looks all clear." One said before moving aside and letting a few more enter, they spanned out across the entire casino floor, a few even a bit to close for comfort. "

"What the hell..." A Legionary standing close to the bar noticed a strange metal contraption and picked it up. Ised's false leg was now in the hands of the enemy, he looked it over to try and decipher what it could be. "Don't pull the bar out, don't pull the bar out.." Ised thought over and over again before hearing a loud boom and seeing plasma splattered everywhere.

Anger filled her chest and she pulled herself up, slamming her hands onto the bar top. "You fuckin' morons! That was my leg!" As quickly as the Explosion happened more men rushed in aiming guns and blades at Ised. "W-why...why did I fuckin' do that..." Her voice was high and airy, her chest felt heavy and she fell back down behind the Bar.

Immediately Ised was pulled up from out behind the bar by her hair and two large arms wrapped around her. "Nope." Was the only thing she squeaked through crushed lungs before kicking the guy grabbing her from behind in the groin, his grip loosened and she broke free only to be man handled by several other men. Ised's head spun and she felt like she was going to black out. "Know what, fine I give up, to drunk to fuckin' put up a fight..." She relaxed her body and went limp, letting the men carry her outside before tying her hands together and dropping her on the ground.

Aurora wiped her brow of sweat for the umpteenth time, smearing dirt, blood and sweat across her pretty but exhausted features.

She watched as the men of the Legion came out from the Lucky 38 and threw a one-legged woman out into the street, she rolled down the long steps of the 38 to stop at the bottom near where Aurora was standing. Two Legionaries picked up the wretch and dragged her away mid-protest to Freeside.

Aurora turned around and walked into a Soldier, she gasped, "Oh, Please forgive me sir, I didn't know you were there!" she stammered. the Soldier looked at her, he was one of Titus' Decanii, "You are the NCR capture?" he asked her, "The personal slave of Centurion Vulcanis?"

Aurora nodded, "Do you have battlefield medical training?" he asked her gruffly.

"Yes, sir, i do." she replied.

"Good, report to the Old Mormon Fort, you will assist there." the soldier strode off

Aurora moved quickly to obey the Decanus, she entered the Mormon Fort to find that it had become a dumping ground for the captures. out the front of the fort, a makeshift medical area had been set up where injured soldiers were getting treated.

Within the Old Mormon Fort, injured men and women were everywhere, in various states of disarray amongst uninjured and frightened civillians who had been captured. Legion soldiers stood guard and had their weapons trained on the crowd, ready to kill anyone who resisted. The Followers of the Apocalypse, those who had remained, were kept locked up in one of the two towers. Aurora set to work, helping the slave masters sort out those who would live and those who would not. Basic triage ruled.

At the end of that exhausting day, there were only a few captures left to sort through, one was the one-legged girl who had been thrown out of the Lucky 38, Aurora had seen the look in the girl's eyes before, Drug addiction, most likely psycho. She knew that the girl before her had seen what was happening, and the fear was plain to see in her eyes, this girl didn't want to die, but Aurora knew that if she was seen in this state by the slave masters, that she would be killed, or crucified, either way, dead was dead.  
"Stay here, and don;t do anything stupid." she said to the girl. She turned and looked for the Slave master,

"Sir, Forgive me, but I have a legionary with a bad cut on his arm, he will need bandages, have i your permission to go and collect some from the supplies?" the slave master grunted, too busy looking over the pretty girls and calculating how much they were worth. Aurora moved quickly, knowing that time was of the essence, she retrieved the bandages from storage , and some doses of fixer. she slipped the syringes of Fixer into the three bandage rolls and returned to the girl.

"Here," she said as she injected each dose after the other. "Stay calm, don't do anything stupid and you might just get through this alive." she said, trying to reassure the girl with a smile.

She moved away with the bandages in hand to the medical tent, she stammered out an excuse for their presence to her 'favorite' Decanus who was busy working in there as to why she had some bandages, and left quickly before any repercussions were meted out. She still had her suspicions about that Decanus... something wasn't quite right.

Aurora returned to find the Slave master's assistant looking over the one legged girl, she moved quickly when she heard him say that Ised was of no use.

"Forgive me sir, but this one is still of use, there are plenty of one-legged slaves at the Fort, they have their uses, food servers, washers, cooks. she may not be worth much with only one leg, but she is still useful." Aurora suggested sweetly. "We lost many slaves today in the Boomer's territory, and My Master, Prime Centurion Titus Vulcanis, will need them replaced." the Slave master's assistant looked at Aurora at the mention of her master's name, she smiled softly. The soldier knew that the Prime Centurion was high up, most likely to be the next Legate promoted. he nodded.

The slave master's assistant looked Ised over, "There is still some leg there, if we give the wretch a crutch she might be of some use, if not, she can work on her back." he said sneeringly. Aurora saw the girl gear up for a retort and interjected herself smoothly between the girl and the slave master's assistant, putting one hand behind her back and wiggling her index finger at Ised to warn her to be quiet

"Yes sir, Now, there was another slave over here that you may have an issue with..." she said, as she moved quickly to direct the Slave master away from Ised. Aurora followed the Solder, and turned her head back to Ised and winked.


	28. Chapter 28

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With a huff of sheer annoyance, Titus had the one-legged girl hauled off to the old Mormon Fort with the other corpses and captives. With House still up there, at the top of the Lucky 38, Titus knew he could give Caesar a home warming gift for when his master anointed the city New Rome. His own centuria that had started the day as 77 men had now dwindled to under 30, but these men were his best. Few recruits remained alive under his command - his men that were left were Primes or Veterans, officers with experience and skill.

The centurion knew Mr House was still up there, cowering at the top of the building like the pitiful excuse for a man he was. He turned to the only two recruits left in his command, telling them to get back to The Fort as quickly as humanly possible, and send word to Caesar that New Rome awaits his arrival. They'd be of little use again the securitrons House was presumably hiding behind at the top of this tower.

His remaining men strode up to the elevator and loaded their weapons. Machetes were stowed and firearms brought out. One cannot inflict pain upon a machine. Titus took a thermic lance offered to him by his greenest Decanus, Lupe, and had a few practice thrusts. "Half of you take the elevator to the Presidential Suite," he ordered. "When you hear the fighting start, you come up and join in. The rest go straight to House's floor."

His men nodded and finalized their preparations for this last battle. Titus lead the first group that would go straight to the top floor, ready to take on House.

Sure enough, when they reached the top, House's face was plastered across a huge monitor in the center of the room, surrounded by half a dozen of those funny looking robots. "Ah-" he began, but Vulcanus cut him off.

"No monologues," he said calmly as he dropped a frag grenade into the crowd of droids by the screen. With the explosion, his men charged in, cutting down House's last line of defense, then the rest of Titus' soldiers came from the elevator and joined in. When the room was clear, the centurion let out a sigh of relief. They'd lost nobody up here, but they weren't done yet.  
He told his men to wait here, to discard the shredded husks of the robots they'd just slain, while he went into the next room to deal with the mastermind of Vegas. Using a terminal he opened the wall and walked through to be greeted by two angry looking securitrons. Apparently, destroying their kin warranted their hostility. Who knew?

A 9mm round nailed Titus in the chest, stopped by his thick steel plate. Without a second though, he charged the bot that fired on him, the heated tip of his lance going through the blue armor plating like a hot knife through butter. The second faired no better as Titus swung round melting through its arm and shoulder, through into its face.

Titus pulled the cloth bandana he wore over the lower half of his face down to his neck and wiped the sweat and grime away. The puckered scar left across his cheek from Colonel Hsu had finally closed up, but was still sore, and he hated for people to stare at it. Pulling the cloth back up, he descended through another elevator down to House's control room.

To his shock and horror, what awaited the centurion down there was not the man he thought he would encounter, but a frail, rotten husk plugged into all manner of life support. If anything this was just illustration of the man's weakness. _Caesar would like the honor himself_, though Titus.

The shock of cold water brought her back once again to a state of exhausted wakefulness. She rubbed her hands through her hair as one of the other girls poured the bucket of clean water over her. filthy water ran in rivulets down her face and body. it felt so good to be _almost _properly clean.

The women were approached by another soldier.  
"Report to the Lucky 38 and prepare Caesar's Suite. When you have finished that, you will prepare a suite for the Legate and also the Prime Centurion." the exhausted women nodded, dripping water from their hair and bodies. they dried quickly with rags they had found and dressed again in their dirty Slave dresses.

they were escorted up to the Presidential suite of the Lucky 38, Aurora was amazed at the beauty of the view that greeted them from beyond the dusty windows.  
"Get this room ready for our Lord Caesar, then go to the suites and prepare them for the Legate and the officers." their escort gave the girls a rough shove, and they set quickly to work, removing the dusty, faded bed sheets and quickly finding some that were 'fresh' or as fresh as they could be having been laundered over 200 years ago. Aurora caught Titus' eye as he returned from the Control Room, where Mr. House was. he looked tired, his eyes were the only thing that could be seen, there was a dent in his new Armour, and the blood of his enemies had dried to a dark red against the metal.  
Aurora nodded to her master, her mind flashed back to the 'lesson' that he had taught the Boomers, and she trembled a little, He was a man, capable of great and terrible things, some of which she had witnessed, and some she had been the receiver of.

The women quickly finished Caesar's quarters and headed down to the Suites. each took a suite to work on, Aurora prepared Titus' suite, when she was satisfied that he would be happy with it, though she had an inkling that he'd probably just bathe and rest before Caesar arrived, she sent word to her Master that his suite was ready for him, when he was ready for it. she moved to a small mat on the floor, and dragged it to the wall. she had food laid out for her master, should he be hungry when he arrived, and had everything ready for his bath, She lay down on the mat and closed her eyes, she began to tremble, and it turned into a shaking that she could not stop. she was still shaking slightly when Titus arrived.

When the recruit had come to the top floor to tell Titus his chamber was ready, he was relieved. All he wanted to do after today's events was sleep for a week. Surely the remains of the Legion felt the same way. Men from Utah would have to be moved out here to make up the numbers again, but that mattered not - nothing happens in Utah anymore. The weary centurion trudged slowly to his suite and, with his slave's help, began to remove his armor and lay it by the foot of his bed. Without a word, he turned and sank into the hot bath, beckoning Aurora to come to his side.

Aurora moved to kneel beside her master, she could see the weariness on his face, the prominent, puckered Scar from Colonel Hsu was a brother to a few smaller ones that he had given her on her back, something that the good Colonel had paid for with his life.

She picked up a cloth with hands that still trembled lightly and soaked it in the hot water of his bath, and gently took his face in her hands and wiped the dirt, blood and grime away, her thumb softly caressed the scar line on his cheek.

She moved the cloth down his neck and across his shoulders, her eyes following the contours of his shoulders as her cloth cleared the filth, the water slowly changed colour from clear to murky with a tinge of red.

"Have you any wounds that need tending, Master?" she asked him

Titus closed his eyes as the steam passed over his face and the hot water lifted the dirt from the day's toil off of his skin. It would be hours before Caesar arrived. He'd have time to rest and regain his composure before the arrival of his lord and master.

"None that I know of," he replied groggily. His hand went to his where the securitron had tagged him. It was just a sore mark, not a real injury.

"You should clean yourself, too."

Aurora nodded, "I shall do so master, when I have finished caring for you." she smiled softly as she continued to wipe his chest, her hand gently caressing the place where he had pressed his own hand onto his chest. there was a small mark there, red and angry with discomforting pain.

"What happened here?" she asked curiously

Titus sighed and placed his hand over hers, "Nothing, it is nothing that you need worry about." he assured her. He looked at her face, still streaked with grime.

He took her hand and helped her to undress, she felt nerves rising, having never bathed with her Master before, she slipped into the blood-tinged water and knelt naked before him in its warmth, the water rose to just below the rim of the tub with her small mass being added to the equation.

She finished cleaning him and then began to work on cleansing herself, it had been a long time since she had the luxury of a hot bath and doubted that the other slave women who had worked with her were even getting a cold bath, probably a quick wash down with cold water from a bucket would be all that they would be getting.

She was grateful to him, he could have her killed at anytime, but there was something in his eyes that she had noticed, a protective look that he took on when he looked upon her.

SHe finished bathing and they both left the tub, the water cooling on their bodies, she moved around him, drying him with towels that seemed to be wonderfully preserved, but now ruined with staining from the bloody water.

He guided her to the bed and gently stroked her face, tiny scratches from the day's events had gently marred the smoothness of her skin. he lay down beside her and they both rested, to be awoken hours later by one of Titus's men knocking on his door and informing him that Caesar was nearing the outskirts of New Rome


	29. Chapter 29

Ised arrived to The Old Mormon fort with the unwanted "help" of two Legion solders, she was filled with anger, glaring at anyone who dared to so much as glance at her. It was chaos Men in Armour, over worked slaves, and soon to be slaves were everywhere; Screams and pleading filled the air along with the smell of burning corpses, that made Ised sick if she dared to breath through her nose. Roughly Ised was thrown into a makeshift pen by herself on her own stumbling back she swore at the two men.

"Fuck you legion pigs! I can't wait to see you choke on your own filthy fuckin' blood!" She Screamed nearly choking her throat was so dry.

The taller of the two men laughed darkly. "You'll sell for a fine price, Fiesty, It'll be fun breaking you in."

"Fuck it's so hot in here..." With everyone moving around and fires burning if left idle to long anything metal would burn the skin. Ised slumped into the back of the pen, she certainly didn't want to catch the eyes of anyone, but seeing as she was put in a pen alone they probably had some sort of plan for her.

Her eyes caught the big stage-like thing in the middle of the large tent and went wide eyed "wait this...we're being sold here!? Fuck!"

Ised lowered her head sick with a realization that settled in, The faint feeling of despair weighed down on her chest.

Twenty or so minutes had passed before the two men that had put her in the pen returned only to pull her out of it and forcefully put a collar around her neck, it was thick and had a bright red light on it.

"Don't go to far or your head just might explode" On of the men sneered, Ised cleared her throat to yell at one of the men but was stopped short by the sight of soon to be slaves being lined up onto the stage.

She was pulled up from the floor and was carried to the stage where she was given a crutch to lean on for the time being. It wasn't much help since Ised was so scared out of her wits she couldn't stop shaking, constantly almost losing her balance. One by one the individuals were sold...or put in a pen with others if they didn't sell right away.

"14 Denarius for the slave with one leg!" A deep voice rang out.

"14...14! I don't know how much that is but its a hellava lot less then you were selling the others for!" Ised couldn't bite her tongue any longer, with all the bullshit she was going to have to put up with, she was completely insulted by the price she had been given.

Caesar and his men were on the march to Vegas, and after the short rest of Titus and his companion, he had reached the gates of Freeside.  
On the warning of Caesar's imminent arrival, the centurion sprang from his bed and hurriedly dressed himself with the help of his slave. He and Lanius were due to meet their leader at the base of the Lucky 38 to debrief him and show him the spoils of their effort. Titus left Aurora is his room, nervously darting to the elevator outside his suite with his helm under his arm, and meeting the Legate on the casino floor.  
The Legate stood alone, ready to greet Caesar, while the few men still alive in Titus centuria were pottering around the casino floor. Titus nodded at them to leave before Caesar got there and they left to take their position outside on the strip.

It wasn't difficult to tell when Caesar was approaching. His banner men were heralding his arrival as dramatically as they could, calling for everyone attention. A tad over the top by Caesar's standards but this was a big day and this fit the bill. The cheers of men outside was their signal. The Prime Centurion and the Legate opened the doors to greet their master and his Praetorian Guard. They bowed their heads in respect, offering up this gargantuan building as tribute. Caesar was only too happy to accept the gift. While Titus had left her in his room to attend to their Lord and Master, Aurora had a proper look around the suite.

She went to the drawers,of the dresser, curiosity overwhelming her boredom. there was an old suitcase next to the draws, she hefted it, and found it had something in it. she pulled it out from its place against the wall and ran her hands over the old leather and slightly rusty clasps.

They flicked open with a '_click_' and Aurora lifted the lid. Within there were two silky dresses, one in a deep crimson, the other in a light purple. she held the first one aloft before her eyes, it shimmered between blood red and deep sunset crimson in the light of the suite. it had a lightness to its sensation against her skin as she dreamily held it against her body, it would fit.

She knew that she had some time while her master was attending to Caesar, and with a guilty pleasure she slipped out of her slave clothes and dressed in the gorgeous red gown. she stood before the mirror and looked at her reflection.

An exhausted young lady smiled sadly back at her. The sleeveless gown showed off her scarred arm quite prominently, the small scratches that marred her usually smooth face looked red and angry and her eyes held a tinge of sadness and emotional pain that she tried to hide deep within herself.

As she looked into her reflection, she wondered how much of a Slave she really was, the collar still adorned her neck and the Scar on her arm was there for all to see. But she served her Master now, thoughts of escape no longer foremost in her mind. She felt concern for Titus each time he went into Battle, and it wasn't based on her understanding that she would get sold to another Legionary should he fall in battle, it was genuine concern for him.

She found a hair brush and attacked the tangles and knots, returning her hair to a smooth shine, and her scalp hurting from the efforts, strands of her hair stayed within the bristles of the brush. she found some bobby pins and put her hair up in a braided bun, it felt good to have her hair brushed and neat, a real positive boost to her mood considering all that she had gone through that day.

She sighed as she removed the silken gown from her body and dressed in her slave rags again, keeping her hair up in its' bun. she neatly folded the dress and put it back with the purple gown in the suitcase before closing the lid and putting it back where she had found it, she noticed the name carved into the leather, "Jane" whoever this Jane was, she had spectacular taste, the two dresses ere quite exquisite.

Aurora moved about the suite, cleaning and tidying up while she awaited the return of Titus.


	30. Chapter 30

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The Story you have just read was written by several people and posted to a Forum website as part of the We Are Legion Fallout Roleplay Group. The fantastic group are from different walks of life RP experience and writing styles and Skills. We hope you have enjoyed this story and we are always looking for others to join in the fun. I may post others in the future from this Roleplay site Please, feel free to check us out! We would love to have you come and join us!

Thanks for Reading, we hope to see you with us soon!

-Starsa83/Aurora

The procession fell away from the building as only Caesar and his Praetorian Guard followed Lanius and Titus into the gaping maw at the base of the tower. They led their master up to the top floor penthouse and stood at attention as he slowly looked around the floor and his expression told them he was beyond impressed. After a few moments, Caesar spoke.

"So... where is he?" He asked with an almost reverential tone - like he respected House as an opponent. With a simple gesture, Titus lead Caesar to the secret elevator and down to the depths of the tower where it's previous owner lay, plugged into the whirring, glowing machines that kept him alive these past two centuries. Caesar seemed amused. The most powerful man in this great ruined city was merely a skeleton with some wires attached - how fitting. With a few taps at the terminal, Titus brought the 'man' out of the chamber for his master.

"W-why...have you done this? ... Centuries of preparation ...so much good, undone ... Your conquest ... Is doomed to fail ..."

The centurion left his master to speak with House for a few moments, retreating to the elevator. After some time talking with the abomination that lay in that tube, Caesar turned back to Titus, then to the terminal. In a couple of tapped buttons, House's rancid, green body popped in its harness. Caesar walked back to the elevator, ready to return to his new residence. His face was a mixture of pride and solemnity.

When they got back to the penthouse, Lanius and Lucius were seated at a table while the rest of the Guard were dotted around the room. This was the debriefing. Caesar took his seat at the head of the table and TItus at the far end. It was Lanius who spoke first.

"The city is taken. Every soldier of the Bear has been rooted out. A decisive victory-" he began.

"Really," Caesar began. "From what I've heard, we only barely won."

But Titus, perhaps foolishly, added. "A decisive victory?! Pfft. We lost half our cohort taking this city!"

Had Titus not had as much favor with Caesar as he did, Lanius may have killed him in this very room. Even their master himself was a little shocked at the outburst. Caesar looked down the table at the Centurion as raised his eyebrows as if to ask what he would do now, to make up for their loses here, and for disrespecting the Legate.

"The people here can be recruited - in a few months, we'll have made up for our dead." A good but obvious answer. Caesar was not overly impressed. He was about to speak out against Titus when the centurion continued. "But we should send a message to the profligates at Shady Sands. Have the bodies of every NCR soldier quartered, the remains dumped at the city border under cover of night, to let them know what is coming their way."

Lanius was still. Caesar nodded his head looking pleased with himself. Titus stood, gave Lucius a quick nod, who did the same, then left for the Strip. There was work to be done.

When he got to the Freeside gates, he saw the tiny remain of his centuria waiting for him. Ever faithful, Lupe walked straight up to him, seemingly unfased by what had happened the day before.

"Tell the rest of the men at the Mormon Fort: quarter the profligate bodies; and the men outside the gates: go to the Crimson Caravan HQ, slaughter them, and bring me every single Brahmin they have!"

With that, he simply left them, slightly confused with their orders, and made his way back to his suite.

Ameritus successfully escaped to the outskirts of New Vegas by slipping into the sewer system nearby. She had made it a point to map out every possible escape route from the city and knew the ghoul and rat-infested sewers well. She had made a few connections with the human inhabitants of the sewers, and was able to remain with them long enough to have the lead dug out of her and be healed properly. A few well-played games of Caravan saw her fully supplied with food, water, and stims, and well on her way. She made sure to repay their kindness by informing them about the Legion's occupation and advising their willing cooperation with them. She knew this would be to their benefit. The Legion was likely to give them better accommodations than the NCR ever did!

Her human 'friends' here always worried when she made her way deep into the sewer system. Many of them had tried exploring those subterranean avenues and never returned. Ameritus never worried in dark places. A few hits of Cateye was all she needed to safely traverse these areas, no matter how many dangers presented themselves. She was expert at sneaking thanks to her friend Delbin. Ah Delbin. The thought of his murder by the NCR pigs always brought a fresh rush of hatred for them. She took a moment to relive her sparse victories against her enemies and sighed, wishing there had been more. Her thwarted attempts at taking on the enemy had awarded little success.

It wasn't until she inveigled herself into their ranks that she had been able to really do some damage. Those vital communiques from NCR scouts about Legion activities that went 'missing', (along with the messengers who delievered them), the nightstalker venom that managed to find its way into scout canteens, (that wouldn't be used until they were well away from New Vegas and their deaths would be considered 'accidents'), were all her meager contributions to The Cause. But they gave her little satisfaction. She wasn't aware that any of the petty attempts she made against the NCR would merit real results, until she saw the Legion marching into New Vegas, catching the NCR with their "pants down"; a favorite position with Profligates!

She couldn't allow time to relish their defeat. The war hadn't been won and she couldn't be captured and rendered useless! She took a hit of Cateye, stifling down the guilt she felt when she went against the Legion's directives against using chems, and entered the labyrinthian tunnels that would take her safely to the outskirts of town, right under the Legion's nose.

Aurora had set to scrubbing the red stains from the bath with an exhausted vigour. She was still weary from the events of the last day. The few hours sleep that she had taken by her Master's side in the large, soft bed had revived her for a while but she felt the haze of exhaustion creeping up again. She heard the sounds of men moving about in armour,guards from the Praetorian ranks were taking positions as Lanius passed. She heard his deep voice from behind the door of her Master's suite as he passed.

Aurora held her breath as he passed by. She had the soiled towels in her arms and was about to step out into the corridor,she waited until she heard the door to Lanius' suite close before she moved out of Titus' suite to gather fresh linens. Aurora looked in both directions noticing the Guards at their door and also at the for to Lanius' suite. Honour Guards for Caesar's top commanders. She felt 'safer'already.

She kept her eyes downcast as she passed the two guards at the door to Titus' suite. She moved quickly to the cleaners room and collected more towels, dumping the soiled towels in a basket to be cleaned and laundered. She returned with an armful if soft towels and saw Titus returning from the other direction, she respectfully bowed her head to him and waited for him to enter the Suite first. She quickly placed the towels in the bathroom and returned to her master's side

It was good seeing Lucius again. Those two would have to catch up soon. He owed Lucius a lot and was glad to be making his mentor proud. But back to the matter at hand. It would take hours, perhaps the rest of the day before the bodies were prepared, then weeks for the delivery to be made, but it would be worth it to know those degenerates back west were shitting themselves.

"Come here," he said to Aurora, beckoning her closer with a wave of his hand. To her surprise, the reached up, popped the clasp of her collar and dropped it onto the floor. "Useless pile of shit anyway - never worked."

He figured she knew her place now, she had nowhere to go now even if she ran, and the mark on her shoulder would tell people where she was from if she did. And maybe, very deep down, he thought he owed her more than that.

It was a great relief to have that accursed collar removed from her neck. Aurora's hands went to her neck and felt the marks that had indented themselves into the soft skin at her throat and neck.

"Thank you, Master." she said with deep gratitude. She had no idea exactly what she was feeling, her emotions were so mixed, anger and resentment, buried deep within that she had been lied to, relief and gratitude that the damned heavy thing was off and she could hope swallow normally again after weeks of having to swallow only small amounts of food, She had lost weight due to this, as her eating was slowed with necessity.

Aurora kept her emotions from her face, lest she offend her master. She now adhered to the tenants of the slave of the Legion, Honestia, Prudentia and Industria, Honesty, Prudence and Industry, Service to her Master, to the Legion. She was an NCR Soldier no more.


End file.
